Living Shadows
by white-lily15
Summary: Next Generation. "Do you want me to break your nose again, mutt?" "Fractured! It was fractured! Get it ri-Uzumaki! Don't walk away when I'm talking to you!" Apparently, putting Naruto's daughter and Kiba's son together wasn't the brightest of ideas. R
1. Pain in the Side: Ages 6-9

**Author's Note: Hello fellow readers (: If you're reading this, then I guess you decided to give this story a chance. **

**And please do read the note at the end. It has some answers to questions you may have(:**

* * *

**Living Shadows**

…**.**

…

**.**

**Age 6**

The sun shone brightly down upon the village as group after group of pupils began to pool around the ancient building that would serve as their school.

The first day of the Academy. The Academy was where teachers would mold their students into weapon and chakra wielding defenders of their beloved village hidden in the leaves. The streets of Konoha were flooded with soon to be students anxiously pulling their parents along, anticipation and excitement clear on their round faces. Most of them were excited that was. Some were completely neutral to the energy filled atmosphere and calmly stood in place as they awaited the announcement of what class they would be placed in.

The high pitched yipping of a brown puppy happily seated by a student's sandal clad feet broke through the noisy atmosphere. The child felt the comforting warm palm of his mother's palm ruffling his unruly brown spikes.

"Aren't you excited?" The woman's warm, soft voice spoke. She crouched down in front of her second born with a bright smile. "Your first day."

Shyly, black eyes met those of white-lavender and meekly nodded, earning a slight chuckle from his mother. Her dark navy locks shined in the daylight as the gentle breeze ruffled a few strands.

"You'll make plenty of friends, Kakato," She reassured softly, her fingers running soothingly through the six year old's hair.

A few snickers caught Kakato's attention, making his cheeks flame to life when he noticed a few boys snickering at his mother's coddling. "I-I'm not a baby anymore Momma!" He protested, backing away from her touch.

And back straight into a pair of sturdy legs.

"I know I didn't just hear my kid use the word Momma." A smug voice snickered with clear amusement.

Kakato cringed, slowly tilting his head up to see the fanged smile of his father.

"Kiba, there's nothing wrong with it." Hinata defended in her soft voice, rising to her feet so that she caught the still sparkling gaze of her husband. A small smile tilted her lips when she noticed her son's fidgeting. "I am his mother."

Kiba snorted, his smirk never budging as he mussed his son's hair, and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah," He ignored the slight narrowing of her eyes and instead opted for lowering his mouth to Kakato's ear, "Don't tell your mom about the shuriken I gave you."

A few snickers and the boys pulled their own silence truce, all the while Hinata chuckled. _They_ thought she didn't know about the early birthday present, but in reality, she knew and took her husband's vast collection for revenge. Living with pack of noisy and pushy Inuzuka's certainly had made her a bit stealthier and only furthered her boldness.

"What was that boys?"

Both froze and looked at her with that all too guilty looking expression, "Nothing!"

"Already gettin' in trouble?"

Kiba sighed at the hyperactive voice, folding his arms over his chest, and glanced over with a smirk at the bright blonde Hokage. "Does Sakura know you waited 'til last minute to bring the runt?" The Inuzuka pointed to the pink haired female tossed over her father's broad shoulder.

Naruto chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his head, "She doesn't _need_ to know." He directed his blue gaze over his shoulder, "Does she?"

"No," It was more groaned from the small girl. "Will you put me down now?"

The blonde ninja laughed at the small jerks she gave in his grapple hold, before swiftly flipping her over his shoulder and lowering her to her feet. Blue eyes instantly flitted to the boy that stood by the red marked man and darted behind her father's pant leg.

Naruto sighed at his daughter's antics.

Kiba raised a brow at the shy nature, "Ya sure that's your kid?"

"Kiba-kun!" Hinanta gasped.

"What?!" He defended, "Kami knows neither Naruto _nor_ Sakura are quiet!"

The Hokage rolled his eyes, glancing down at the little girl still clinging to her daddy's leg. "Don't you remember Kakato?"

She shook her head furiously, big blue eyes bright with nervousness as her small fingers curled tighter in the orange material of his pants. Her father's large hand ruffled her chin length hair, "You won't meet him back there ya know."

"I don't wanna." She murmured softly, "Can't I go to the hospital to see Momma instead?"

Naruto looked helplessly down at his clearly distraught daughter, her tone cracking at the mention of medic nin, who unfortunately had an emergency call that very morning and had to miss the ceremony. Sakura understood how their daughter worked mentally.

A deep sigh escaped the ninja, his shoulders slumped. He still couldn't figure out _why_ his daughter wasn't excited to begin her ninja training.

Kiba looked on the scene in mild interest, before glancing down to his second pup. Kakato didn't even glance in the direction of the pinkette, having found his puppy much more interesting. That brought a small smirk to his father's lips.

Hinata quietly cleared her throat and Kiba sighed. To anyone else it wouldn't mean anything in the slightest, but they obviously didn't know his wife. The quiet kunoichi glanced with motherly concern at the young girl, her protective and loving nature quickly taking its course as she nodded pointedly to their son.

He got the message, cocking a brow, but shrugged neutrally.

Silently, he nudged his son's foot with his own. Kakato looked up questioningly, only to see his father jerking his head in the direction of the young Uzumaki, another harder nudge and he stumbled a step. Chairomi yipped in surprise.

The small Inuzuka scrunched his features up in confusion, his father responding with a small groan and running hand his roughly over his face. A glance at his warmly smiling mother made it clear as she gestured towards the girl. With hesitation he shuffled over to the tense Hokage, glancing at the man's small smile as he leaned a bit so that his daughter was more in the open.

"Um, hi?" Carefully, he leaned around a bit to see her face hidden in her father's pants.

When she didn't say anything back, he shrugged and was ready to return to his father and mother's side, but the look on his dad's face clearly said to try again. Another sigh and he turned back to the pinkette, "I'm Kakato Inuzuka."

One blue eye opened as her head turned slightly, taking in his black eyes, spiky brown hair, and red marked tan cheeks. Her chubby face tilted ever so subtly in his direction, "I'm Konohana Uzumaki."

….

They had ended up in the same class with Konohamaru as their instructor. Naruto and Kiba had _both_ groaned at that idea, Hinata merely giggled at the chunin.

Kakato situated himself into the same row, reluctantly with the Hokage's pup. Her shoulders remained tense and fists clenched in her blue pant clad lap. Kakato kicked his feet up onto the desk, Chairomi happily yapping from his coat, and tucked his arms behind his head with a smirk.

"Okay brats!" The instructor announced loudly, twirling a kunai around his finger, "I'm Konohamaru sensei! Ya got that?!"

The class nodded their agreements, most of them eyeing the very sharp item that he held.

Konohamaru smirked, "I want each of you to stand and say your name." A hand shot up and the sensei groaned up at the ceiling, "What about that don't you understand?!"

The girl cringed at the loud volume of the response, stuttering out, "W-Why don't y-you just use the roster, sensei?"

"So I'll actually get to know your face!"

The female squeaked, sinking lower into her seat, attempting to disappear from the very loud reprimanding. The chunin sighed, muttering under his breath at the direction his very first class was going. He had to practically beg the Hokage to let him teach at the Academy, for years he had desired to do so only to get the response that he had communication issues.

Psh, him with issues? That's funny!

One by one each student shakily stated their names, collapsing back into their chairs soon after so that their fellow student was under fire next. Kakato had looked eerily cocky as he stated his name proudly, Chairomi yipping in agreement soon after, only to hear…

"You're that runt Mimi's brother?" The sensei dead panned, scratching his temple at the sudden red nature of his student's face. Examining the red features of the Inuzuka once more he shrugged, "Eh, at least you're not hyper."

The young boy grumbled irritably in his seat and crossed his arms firmly across his chest. "Stupid teachers"

"K-Konohana Uzumaki"

The pinkette quivered in her stance, all eyes taking in the red flush creeping up her neck. Her gaze drifted downward as she lowered herself to sit.

"You're Boss's kid!" His loud outburst suprised her with a jolt.

"AH!" The girl toppled into her seat ungracefully, managing to bang her knee harshly on the way down and to garner the booming laughter of her classmates.

The sensei paused in his excitement and felt a sweat drop roll down his forehead, "Oh crap."

…

…**..**

…

**Age 9**

"Clone Justsu!"

A cloud of smoke wrapped itself around the pinkette, her fingers poised into the last sign she had formed, and brow pursed in concentration. As the smoke cleared, her blue gaze hesitantly fell to the ground….where her pathetic attempt at a clone floundered. A drop of sweat ran down her temple with a groan. In another puff of smoke the disgrace vanished, leaving the young girl.

"Crap! Crap! Crap!" Her foot ruthlessly kicked up at the grassy ground, clumps beginning to fly. "What's wrong with me?!"

To say that Konohana was a prodigy, a mini Naruto or Sakura, and she was someone the villagers would be proud to associate with their Hokage was completely and totally…_false._ Konohamaru was at a loss at the girl's talent…well, lack of it, that is.

Apparently, everyone expected the perfect golden child. Well, they got her.

Konohana ran her fingers through her fallen strands of pink, her forehead coated with sweat as she glanced around her surroundings. Clumps of dirt and red smears decorated the bark of the trees. She didn't have a knack for anything it seemed. Taijutsu she was okay, genjutsu….that was just hilarious to watch, and ninjutsu….Konohamaru actually shed a tear or two at the sight of her clones.

Her bloodied fists shoved roughly into her pockets and eyes squeezed tight in frustration. What was wrong with her?! She was the daughter of the top Medic Nin and the Hokage, but she couldn't even make a clone _or_ properly defend herself!

"At the rate I'm goin', I'll be lucky to graduate at all." She murmured darkly.

Blue eyes glanced upward, hoping maybe an answer would fall from the skies…and all she caught was a bird flying overhead and a splat of white hitting next to her shoe.

Her mom called her a 'late bloomer'.

Her dad said it would come with hard training and spirit.

The village thought she was a failure.

A small glint sparked in her gaze, the taunts of her class mates when they pointed or jeered at her mistakes made her chest tighten. Her eyes began to burn and cheeks colored as a sniffle slipped past her lips. In a flash, she whirled to the nearest tree, her foot colliding with the bark.

She didn't talk in class, so everyone thought she believed she was _too_ good to talk to them.

With narrowed eyes, her hands flashed through the signs once more.

She'd drop dead, before letting everyone be right about her.

…**..**

…

…**..**

Kakato didn't even crack an eye open at the ruthless whacks that a kunoichi in training delivered to his tree. She'd figure out he was there eventually, whether it be her sensing him or him trying to scare the crap out of miss-perfect. Suddenly, all sound of impact ceased and the tell-tale scent of bitter lavender caused him to open one eye to stare at the flushed girl. She had landed on the same branch as him, face flushed, and eyes steeled.

"Sup"

Her eyebrow twitched at the lazy smirk he threw at her, "What come to tease me too?"

The Inuzuka snorted, ruffling his hair as he sat upright, "Don't flatter yourself, Uzumaki-_hime._" He ignored the manner her fists clenched, popping his stiffened joints, "I've been up here the whole day and you didn't even notice. You would figure the Hokage's precious little-"

He paused when a senbon thunked into bark next to his raised hand, having slipped past two parted fingers almost seamlessly. Black orbs narrowed before snapping to the pinkette, who had another one out and ready.

"The name's Konohana, _mutt_."

His brows furrowed and a fang overlapped his lip, Chairomi was already snarling at the girl from his shoulder rather loudly. Kakato was beginning to wonder what happened to her shyness and when she became so..._That's _ why her scent seemed bitter! She was!

Blue locked onto black.

She was the first to break the glare, and he couldn't help but smirk smugly when she put her back to him. One more glance over her shoulder, and she pushed off the branch. Kakato rolled his eyes, patting Chairomi's hair soothingly.

"Stupid wench," He muttered, glancing at the senbon in a bit of confusion, before shrugging it off completely. "Dumb luck."

…

…**.**

…**.**

Kakato would just love it if his sister would just shut up! Black eyes narrowed at his older sister as she gabbled to their mother. White-lavender eyes wide and brown locks pulled in a perfect little bun, bouncing on her toes as she dramatically gestured with her hands. The boy snorted. She had _way_ too much energy!

His gaze lingered though just a bit longer on his sister's eyes. Byakugan. A snarl left his lips, loud enough for his sister and mother both to look at him in surprise. He made no move to apologize as he kicked the front door open and stomped out of the house with Chairomi on his heels. With one chakra filled push he flew towards the trees, and continued to do so until he landed in the forest area.

"Stupid sister," He muttered, thunking down onto the grass just as Chairomi landed next to him. A smile small pulled at his lips, ruffling the pup's hair, "We don't need Byakugan, do we girl?"

The dog barked in appreciation, nuzzling his palm with her wet nose that only made a laugh rattle his chest.

Both froze at the approaching scent, and then cringed.

"Is that why your mom sent me out here!?" Right on cue Kiba landed in a crouch before his only son, a scowl show casing his fangs. "You're jealous of some crappy eye trick!"

"No-"

"My own son! Wants to be like those stuck up-"

"Mom's a Hyuga ya know."

"Did I say you could talk?!" He growled, gripping the front of shirt, while Akamaru blocked Chairomi off. "Your mom's the exception!"

"Just sayin'"

Kiba suddenly groaned, rolling his eyes, before giving his son a small shove. "Can't either of my kids shut the heck up?"

Kakato scratched the back of his neck, smirking upward at the man, "Well…dad…hate to tell ya-"

Narrowed eyes cut him off, "Do you _want_ to make it to graduation runt?"

An awkward silence filled the two, only stares occupying the two Inuzuka's until a loud, high pitched snarl caused both to jerk their heads to the sides. Chairomi dug her teeth into the larger dog's leg, growling in determination, while Akamaru didn't even flinch at the dull teeth. Kiba arched a brow at the pup, and then sighed.

Another glance at his son, then back to the puppy had him shaking his head as he rose to his feet. "Come on, your mom's worried." His hand outstretched to his second pup and pulled him to his side, only to deliver a sharp thump to the skull. "That's for competing with a female for an Alpha position."

Kakato merely grumbled under his breath, much more interested in how Chairomi attempted to intimidate the monstrous size dog…but Akamaru looked entertained if anything.

A yank to his ear made him growl, "Hey pup, I'm talkin' here!" Kiba glared at his stubborn offspring, crossing his arms, "Like I was saying, don't compete for something that's not even up for grabs. You'll have your own pack one day and so will your sister, but until then," A smirk crossed his father's lips, "Ya make sure everyone remembers that your name is Inuzuka."

"And don't tell mom that you called Byakugan a 'crappy eye trick'."

"…That too."

* * *

**Author's Note: ****Now the big question...Should I continue?**

**Following Inuzuka tradition of naming their member after dog parts and their ninken after colors:**

**Kakato- Heel**

**Mimi- Ear**

**Chairomi- Chairo (Brown) Mi (Beautiful) **

**I couldn't use maru since, apparently, it's a suffix for males. Mi was one of the few I found and it sounded good together. **

**And the issue of Kakato not inheriting Byakugan, I read and researched about it and kekkei genkai, but nothing I found said it would be the dominant trait. Just like other traits I figured there could be a chance of the trait not overruling another. But, in case this is just gibberish thinking just except it as a tweak for the sake of the story.**

**Thank you for reading! (:**


	2. Learning: Ages 10-11

**Author's Note: Hello lovely readers (: Hope you enjoy this second chapter, and please do tell me your thoughts afterwards.**

**~Lily**

* * *

**Living Shadows**

…

…

…**.**

**Age 10**

It was a normal, warm, and sunny day in Konoha. Academy students were enjoying their down time from the ninja training classes, and it wasn't a quiet rumor that many of the kunoichi classes drove some of the tomboy girls insane. Currently, some of the male students watched the rather loud spectacle in front of the school.

"I _don't_ like flowers mom!" The small blonde girl was almost red in the face from the booming volume she emitted. "They suck!"

The seemingly taller, older, and clearly more deadly version of the student almost had steam shooting from her ears. Her blonde hair sticking in every direction from her frustrated pulls.

"What am I going to do with you!?" The woman screeched, almost clawing her features off as she ran a hand over her face. Deadly blue orbs narrowed at the miniature version of herself, minus her deep brown eyes, and gritted out. "You're going to spend the rest of the day helping me in the flower shop, until you understand what you're clearly lacking in the kunoichi classes."

The child's eyes widened, "B-But-"

"One more word and it'll be the rest of the week," The kunoichi chimed in a sing-song tone, her smile wide with victory.

Right on cue, shoulders slumped, and the tomboy shuffled her toe in the dirt. She wasn't stupid enough to push her mother _that _far. "Yes, mom"

Ino's gaze softened, chuckling to herself mostly. Of course her own daughter would become a tomboy, but she loved her…..despite their daily clashes. Slowly, the ANBU captain lowered herself into a crouch before her daughter, taking her thumb to wipe a smudge of dirt from her cheek.

"Make any new friends today, Chokaru?"

Almost immediately, the young girl's eyes sparked with determination, puffing out her cheeks while grunting out, "Uzumaki"

Ino blinked instantly, her hand frozen in mind-hover, "Huh?"

"That _stupid_ Uzumaki always makes our class have to do extra training because she sucks!"

Once again the captain blinked, before busting out in loud, care free laughter. Her daughter looked on with clear concern for her mom's mental state.

"You…Sakura's….oh that's just priceless!" Ino gasped, swiping away her tears with her fingertips, and then smiled at Chokaru's confused expression. "It's nothing honey," Her voice still wavered with restrained laughter. "Where's your brother?"

Right on cue the boy ran right into his twin's back, making the blonde stumble into their mother, and then caused her mom to land flat on her rear with a loud thump. Ino sighed, eyeing the now bickering duo, and rubbed her throbbing temples.

"Hey! Hey! You two shush!"

Two mouths snapped shut in unison, warily glancing at the now standing kunoichi. The blonde swatted at her cloths, "Chokaru, Inoichi, come on. Your dad's gonna be waiting for us at the flower shop."

At the mention of their father the two flitted ahead of the captain, leaving her in their dust. Ino chuckled softly at the ironic information she had just been given and her head as she tailed after her two children. She just had to tell Choji about this.

…**.**

…**.**

…**.**

Konohana shifted in her seat uneasily. Her gaze would flit to the side to watch her father sign off on more documents, one by one putting them into the 'Done' pile, and then turning to the next. Her fingers twisted in her lap and blue eyes darted downward to stare at her dirty blue sandals.

"Dad?"

"Hm?" He hummed.

The pink haired girl licked her dry lips as she turned her body to face her father, "Is there something wrong with me?"

That caused Naruto to abruptly halt all readings on the form demanding a larger budget for the Hospital and to turn his bright eyes to his only child. Her cheeks were stained with pink, dirt smudged her skin, and her shoulder length pink hair was frizzed to resemble a bird's nest.

"Where'd that come from?"

"I-" Her features twisted in concentration, "I can't get hardly anything right. Everyday my class has to do extra drills because I can't get them right!" Her small fists were clenched so tight that her knuckles were white.

Naruto chuckled warmly, despite the odd look she was giving him. Fluidly, the Hokage grabbed his child under the arms, despite her loud squawk of protest, and lifted her to sit sideways in his lap like he used to when she was smaller.

His calloused fingers ruffled her knotted hair playfully as he chided, "Nothing's wrong with you. I wasn't the best Academy student either, Konohana."

The pinkette's tensed shoulders drooped at her father's warm words and glanced downward to her pant clad lap. "I know daddy."

"Neither was your knuckle head of a godfather!"

"Godfather?" Her face tilted upward to see her dad's look of pure amusement, blue eyes sparkling and lips spread into a wide smile.

Naruto grinned wickedly, "Yep, your dear old sensei Konohamaru! You're named after him ya know!"

At that her jaw dropped and blue orbs widened in horror. Naruto's laughter boomed, almost making him jolt her from his lap with the action. "Dad! That's not funny!"

"I'm not joking!"

"EH?!"

Sakura could hear her husband's signature laughter vibrate through the large wooden door. A small smile curled at the medic ninja's pink lips and tired green irises warmed at the wonderful sound. Carefully, she propped herself against the closest wall and continued to listen in to his little pep talk. "And here you thought you wouldn't be a good father."

…**..**

…**.**

…**.**

Kakato's grunted as he landed with a plop on the grassy plane, Chairomi panting heavily by his side. "Good job girl," He groaned, falling backward to stare up at the now star filled sky. "We'll get it down."

The pup grunted her agreements, lying on her stomach by his arm. The two had spent the better portion of the day training ruthlessly. A small scowl spread on his lips, already anticipating the drills they'd have to run tomorrow for Uzumaki's incompetence.

…**..**

…**.**

…

Konohamaru was currently whacking his head, repeatedly, and quite roughly against the nearest wall. Konohana's latest clone was at his feet in a pathetic pile, while the creator herself didn't even have the decency to look concerned for her poor sensei. Rather she calmly remained standing in her previous spot, arms crossed, and blue orbs looking expectant at the teacher.

The rest of the class gave off a collective sweat drop as the chunin recovered from his bashing and smiled forcefully at the ten year old. A bright red mark sported with the pulsating vein was a wonderful look for him.

"Okay class!" He began harshly and everyone groaned, feeling their muscles already begin to burn. "You're all dismissed!"

Nobody moved, they all just sat, frozen in shock as they blinked. The sensei's red forehead spread all over his entire face, "I SAID GET OUT BRATS!"

Everyone dashed for the door, shoving, and yelling in fear. Their rabid sensei was still foaming at the mouth when a particular pinkette attempted to slip by him, only to be grabbed by the collar. "Not so fast Uzumaki!" He dragged her back to his side and narrowed his eyes downward. "You're playing jokes on me, right?"

Blue eyes blinked owlishly upward and Konohamaru groaned.

"Alright," His grip on her released and arms crossed sternly, "I'm sure you're not totally hopeless-"

"Hey!"

"We just got to find your talent." The chunin directed her gaze downward to the clearly pouting girl, poking her on the forehead. "What can you actually do, runt?"

For a moment her features remained in the blow fish form, until she deflated grumpily and shrugged. "Nothing"

Konohamaru snorted, "I doubt that." The brown, spiky haired ninja crossed his arms in thought, mentally going through all the incidents that involved the Uzumaki child. His gaze leveled on the bitter girl, "Hit that." His finger directly pointed a carved leaf sign engraved on the front of one of the desks.

The girl's eyes rolled, "I can't hit that!"

"Chicken!"

"Am not!"

A devilish smirk marred the wild haired ninja's features, "Don't tell me the Hokage's daughter can-"

"If I try can I leave?" She snapped brusquely, eyes steeled, and arms crossed over her flat chest.

She resembled her mom a bit in that moment Konohamaru decided, appraising her widened ninja stance that he had drilled into his class. Something had apparently sunk in.

Rubbing his chin in thought, he nodded. "Yeah, sure, whatever. But you have to hit within a one inch perimeter around the mark. If you're off by a centimeter Uzumaki, consider yourself held back."

To his chagrin, she shrugged carelessly, not even glancing at the emblem when she lazily flicked the kunai in the direction. Half way to the door she had the courtesy of yelling over her shoulder, "See ya tomorrow sensei!"

"Stupid bra-" Konohamaru paused in his shout, his eyes narrowed in concentration when they locked on the target. Directly next to it the shiny ninja weapon was firmly wedged into the wood. "Lucky brat."

He couldn't help, but smirk smugly.

…

…**.**

…**..**

Kakato grunted, his shoulder rolling with the punch that his opponent just delivered. A battle cry was given, a fist flying towards his face that he blocked with his arm. A well placed kick to the shin, a swift uppercut, and the target was flat on his back. Konohamaru soon called off the spar, giving both boys a well done, and allowed two girls to go next.

Kakato didn't even acknowledge the annoying females as he picked up Chairomi. The brown pup licked his dirt smeared cheek with a small yip. "You'll be helping me next time girl."

He had been growing stronger, learning the techniques that had been honorably passed through his family through the generations. He was making steady progress. But, that wasn't enough.

One sparring match with the prodigy Mimi Inuzuka proved that he had still failed to find a technique to conquer her own. Fists clenched and teeth gnashed at the thought, remembering the way she had hesitated in striking. She thought he was too weak.

"Hey, Inuzuka! Snap out of LaLa Land and get your hide over here!"

The prepubescent boy snarled as he made his way over to the formed ring around their so called sensei. When his shoulder clashed with another's, his immediate reaction was to shove and move on.

He was caught off guard when the obstacle shoved _back_ and made him loose his footing for a split second. Kakato saw red, whirling on the idiot that-

Cool blue eyes dully locked with his fire sparked ones and a rosy brow arched in a challenge, "Have a problem, mutt?"

His normal vision came back into view at the aid of the bitter laced lavender that stung his nostrils. Even Chairomi whimpered at the strengthened scent. The student kept his cool, calmly shoving his hands into his pants pocket, "Not at all, _Hime_"

Chapped lips split with a snarl, "My name's not-"

"I see we have a set of volunteers!"

Both students whipped their heads to the right, only to be greeted with the sight of their teacher smiling at them. Not just any smile, that creepy smile that would usually come with consequences.

"For what?" Was what bubbled past his lips harshly, immediately hating any idea of being put together with that _girl!_

Konohamaru responded with a chuckle, "For the co-ed sparring match of course!"

"Huh?"

He face palmed and ran the heel painfully slow down his features. With a beat red face, Konohamaru jabbed angrily at the both of them, "Fight each other!"

Kakato grinned, fingers coiled as he turned to face his opponent. He eyed her widened stance with little interest. The young Inuzuka had seen enough of her taijutsu and ninjutsu to not even have an ounce of worry, and the fact that she was a girl certainly didn't hurt.

Konohana didn't even bat an eye at the fanged grin he sported, but rather focused on the subtle shift in his footing. Dryness consumed her throat when he suddenly flashed through a very familiar set of hand signs, and in a poof of smoke three Inuzukas smiled at her.

Crap.

And in a blink of an eye, her arm flashed up to block a kick from the side, only to have a jab be delivered to her side. Her ribs throbbed from the tough impact, but it didn't stop her from bringing her elbow up to cause the satisfying crunch of his nose breaking to everyone's attention. A clone brought his knee up….

"That's enough!"

Suddenly, two Inuzuka's vanished in a haze and left the two opponents to stare at their very red sensei. Kakato snarled when the instructor stood between them, handing him a towel silently, while giving Uzumaki a visual once over.

"Got to the nurse's office you two and don't even think about finishing the other off!" His eyes narrowed at the subtle way they had been edging towards each other. "Go!"

The female grumbled as she pushed past the Inuzuka, causing a wave of curses Konohamaru didn't think a ten year old should know come from the fanged child's mouth. Kakato's nose still gushed with crimson, staining the sandy ground of the training area as he grudgingly followed the girl's lead. The academy teacher sighed as he slumped with tension. He had observed enough.

The exercise was to see what their reactions would be to an actual battle. Fingers raked through already mussed brown locks, stress beginning to tighten his back and cause his head to throb.

Most hesitated, which was the normal.

Others had acted, but were hesitant to actually strike their classmate. Once again, normal.

Those two….Konohamaru squeezed his eyes shut.

He could still the ferocity in which Inuzuka struck out at the pinkette. There had been no hesitation between them. Konohana had most likely broke his nose with that blow, but in an ideal ninja situation…Kakatoa had won before the first strike was every given. He had the upper hand with ninjutsu that the girl didn't. And judging by how hard the Uzumaki heir had elbowed him in the face, she had meant to do some serious damage.

They were still so young. Had he been that young when the fight or die instinct kicked in?

He could still see how Konohana winced with every breath she took and how Kakato's face was stained by the torrent of blood that streamed out his nose.

Two main things stood out in his mind during the brawl.

One, Kakato immediately took advantage of Konohana's weakness with ninjutsu.

Two, the way Konohana seemed intent on injuring that particular Kakato when faced with three.

From these facts Konohamaru came to one, simple conclusion.

They had known what they were doing.

…**.**

…**.**

…**..**

The nurse had literally swore when she saw the duo walk through her pristine white doors. She jumped to her feet, beverage forgotten on the desk. Her eyes narrowed in annoyance at the pair, her quick calculating gaze deduced swiftly enough what the problem was, and ushered the two to sit on two opposite ends on the bed.

Blonde pigtails hung limply over her shoulders, jerking the Inuzuka's chin upward, and when he snarled she growled, "Shut it, twerp." Her powerful grip pried the towel from his nose, "Fractured," A small poke on the bridge and Kakato howled. "Zip it Inuzuka!"

"Why you old ba-"

"Did you do this?" She whirled and pinned her sparking gaze on the pinkette.

The girl shrugged neutrally, wincing when she sucked in too much air. "Yep."

What neither of the students expected was for her to smirk, actually smirk, before turning back to her patient. "Next time hit harder at a more precise angle. It'll break the bone for sure."

"Hey! Aren't you supposed to be- OW!"

"Quit being such a baby!"

"Old bat-OW!"

"The name's Tsunade," Her smirk widened on the seemingly young woman's features at both of their gaped expressions.

To her smug satisfaction Kakato zipped his mouth promptly shut after her introduction, allowing her to properly heal the fracture. Two fingers pressed to the bridge of his crooked nose and the other resting on the Inuzuka's stomach, he didn't dare question the Legendary Sannin.

When she turned her gaze to the pinkette, there was something akin to amusement at the small twitch her lips gave off, "You're an idiot."

The mini-Uzumaki swallowed dryly, "I know."

"You're an Uzumaki alright. Thick skulled and rash," The blonde snorted, flicking her on the forehead hard enough to leave a small red mark, and pressed her palm to her ribs.

Green chakra pulsed into her small frame, righting the fractured ribs. What she hadn't expected was her free hand to lay flat on her stomach.

"Hey-"

"I can easily re-fracture these ya know, runt!"

Tsunade's brows furrowed as her eyes widened, clear with her findings. She had to restrain from laughing.

The ribs were back to their proper state and Tsunade stepped away to her desk, picking up her pad of paper as she did so. "Loosen your control, twerp."

"Huh?"

The former Hokage groaned with narrowed eyes, "There's a such thing as too much chakra control." Her gaze returned to her quick scribble, "You need control yes, but if you have too tight of a grip on your chakra it won't be able to do its job."

All Konohana could do was stare at her opened mouthed and wide eyed as she casually told her what had been hindering her whole performance. "H-How did you-"

"I checked both of your chakra flows." Was her flippant response, "And Inuzuka, actually have control. You're using too much chakra in one go." A mischievous glimmer lit up her chocolate eyes, "And don't underestimate a girl again."

"What are you? My grandma?" The Inuzuka growled out, defensive practically radiating off the male.

Tsunade flashed a menacing grin that made the boy nearly leap onto Uzumaki to get farther away, "Do you _want _me to hurt you, ya little punk? I can break much more than your scrawny nose."

Kakato grunted out what vaguely sounded like a curse and Tsunade smirked, ripping off a note and handing it to the students in her personal scrawl. "You two get outta here. You're done for the day."

"I got a question why is the former Hokage a school nurse?"

"None of your business brat! Now get out of here!"

Both students bolted from the room; never seeing the slight amusement on her features, "I'll be seeing those two again."

**...**

…**..**

…**..**

…**.**

**Age 11**

Sweat spotted the pinkette's forehead; her hands trembled in their position as she forced the familiar hum of chakra to wash over herself. Knuckles were dried with blood and her scuffed up knees wobbled under the weight of her form. Her tongue ran over her chapped lips once more, before her brows furrowed in concentration.

"Clone Jutsu!"

Upon the sound of the tell-tale pop of the jutsu's completion, Konohana cracked one blue eye open hesitantly and glanced to her right. The sight before her made both eyes snap open.

"Took you long enough," Her perfect copy snarled with an acidic smirk.

The earth came up to meet her buckled knees as she stared at the clone's gradually morphed into what she could only described as a tender grin. Her chest constricted like a vice and eyes burned from the salty liquid that was slowly trickling her burning cheeks. Dirtied hands flew up to wipe away the tears, but it didn't stop more from coming. I had taken her five years to _finally _make a clone.

That was the first time she had cried out of happiness.

…**..**

…**..**

…**.**

Kakato fell to the ground roughly, his breath leaving him with a rough swoosh as he heard his sister cringe. She lowered her palms from their raised state, her beautiful white-lavender eyes transitioning to their softer state. Her white teeth nibbled into her already reddened bottom lip, gazing at her little brother lain before her, completely rendered useless by her technique.

"Kakato," She stepped forward.

"Don't!"

His sharp snap made her freeze upon the spot, her eyes only softening more with an emotion that made him snarl. "Don't look at me like that!" Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, "Don't you dare pity me!"

Mimi recoiled as though she had been slapped at his venom laced words. "I never-"

He didn't listen, merely turning his head to the side to further avoid looking at her pale face. "Just go. I'll be home in a few."

Chairomi whimpered by his side, only helping to drive the blade into his older sister's heart.


	3. Genin: Age 12

**Author's Note: Back again with a third chapter. Hope you guys enjoy it and please do remember to drop a review (:**

**And a special thanks to those of you that did review/alert/favorite. Thanks you guys! (:**

* * *

**Living Shadows**

**...**

**Age 12**

…**.**

Konohamaru honestly couldn't believe it. He stood before the very first class that he had trained, and admittedly cursed at quite often, and couldn't believe that six long years had passed since he had first become their sensei. It was already six years since the snot nosed brats had waltzed into the Academy, shying away from his loud volume and rude gestures, but now they proudly stood their ground before the chunin. He did have a few parental complaints though…

The written exam unfortunately proved some weren't ready for the important leap from student to genin and were placed into another teacher's care for re-teaching. The Sarutobi still held a scowl on his features when he had been given the news by his former instructor, Iruka-sensei, that he was assigned his failed students. But, there was still hope. Hope to prove that he could actually teach, even if only a few kids made it out, it was still something!

One by one, each of his beloved little twerps waltzed up to the panel for their judging that consisted of himself, Iruka, and the Hokage. They all held their own unique brand of boldness and confidence when they performed their jutsus. Konohamaru would give it to the kids though; they didn't look like blubbering idiots.

Shiro Aburame and the Akamichi twins already passed the tests, making him smile smugly at a chuckling Hokage who only gave each kid thumbs up in approval. Currently, the Academy teacher was sighing with a mixture of apprehension and hesitation when he came to the next name on the list…..

"Kakato Inuzuka!"

The dog-nin smirked immediately at the announcement of his name. He slid smoothly from his seat and strode with all the confidence in the world as he approached the judges, his fanged smile flashing and puppy yipping in excitement. Konohamaru withheld an eyeroll, waiting patiently for his student to perform the two jutsus with ease. After receiving thumbs up from the Hokage and a wide cheesy smile, he turned on his heel to return to his seat.

Naruto's smile dropped as he grumbled, "Smug brat" under his breath.

SMACK!

"Ow! Iruka-sensei!"

The instructor merely eyed the Hokage with a small smirk, "Naruto behave."

"I'm not a kid anymore!"

"Then don't act like one."

"Are you two done yet?" Konohamaru groaned, already regretting letting his sensei and Hokage be in the same room. When the two both rolled their eyes, he took that as a sign to continue. He glanced down at his list, "Shikami Nara!"

Right on cue, a loud and piercing snore penetrated the atmosphere. A collective sweat drop was given off by everyone in the room, while Konohamaru gnashed his teeth as he balled up a random sheet of paper and chucked it at the unsuspecting girl.

It landed in her open mouth.

Shikami twitched as she sat up right and spat the offending parchment out of her mouth.

"Nara, get your lazy butt down here!" Konohamaru more or less growled, his hand already pulled back with another wad of paper at the ready.

"Geez, alright, so troublesome," The girl grumbled, a hint of a yawn still tinged her words as she gathered herself up, stretching properly of course, before she made her way to her sensei. Her dirty blonde hair bobbed in the high bun when she directed an annoyed glare at her instructor.

But, nonetheless she passed.

The Sarutobi glared at the back of her skull, cursing her genius father for siring the demon spawn and returned to the list, only to groan. He ignored the glances from his sensei and longtime rival as he messaged his temples.

"Konohana Uzumaki!" He snarled out with a bite, ignoring his friend's warning glare.

_He_ hadn't spent the past six years training her!

Said pinkette squared her shoulders, her tongue licking her dry lips self-consciously as she walked down the steps one at a time. Konohamaru had resorted praying rather loudly, much to the panel's amusement.

"Please! Please! Please! Please! Let her pass!

A single blue eye twitched in annoyance, a red vein pulsating on her forehead at her sensei's dramatics, and turned her gaze to the other two judges.

"Make daddy proud!"

Iruka took a calming sigh, before he lashed out and slammed his two pupils' faces into the desk. Both of his former students groaned into the wood, while the sensei smiled reassuringly at the Uzumaki heiress, "Don't mind them, now the jutsus?"

Iruka had to restrain a blubbering Naruto and a dramatic Konohamaru when she passed. He dreaded to think of what would happen if she passed her chunin exams.

…**.**

In a class of thirty, twenty nine had passed with flying colors, and went on to be placed into their future teams. The Hokage, though, forever being unpredictable decided to do things a little differently this time. The chunin teacher swore up and down that Nartuo wanted to give him a migraine.

All the newly promoted genin stared in utter confusion when ten genin squad leaders walked into their class. None of them had extremely pleasant expressions. They each held a list of paper in their grips, periodically looking between the paper and the kids.

Konohamaru sighed, "Boss can't ever make anythin' easy." He turned to the kids and growled out, "Our _wonderful_ Hokage decided to try something differently. He decided to let the squad leaders form their teams instead of doing so himself."

The instructor chuckled when he heard a pinkette grumble under her breath and cross her arms over her chest, "Slacker."

"Have at it." Konohamaru gestured to the squad leaders.

They all stood in place for a moment, looking amongst themselves, until one shinobi came forward and selected Team One. Then, came Team Two. Each of them kept to the traditional formation of one girl and two boys, until Team Three was selected.

A woman in a Chinese style white top and red pants, smiled at the students eagerly chattering amongst themselves, and cleared her throat pointedly, "I'm TenTen sensei, my team will consist of Chokaru Akimichi, Inoichi Akimishi, and Shikami Nara."

"Uh, that's two girls and-"

"I know how to count Konohamaru," She snapped.

No one disputed after that. The Hokage had given them free reign….

Team Five, led by an orange haired kunoichi, "I'm Moegi sensei". Konohamaru suddenly looked a bit more pink then usual as the female picked her team, which consisted of Shiro Aburame and two former residents of the Sand that had relocated to Konoha.

Then, there was Team Ten. Everyone's gaze fell on Shikamaru, his shoulders slumped and back slouched with his calculating gaze zipping over the faces of the genin. He grumbled, "Troublesome" under his breath with a realization.

"There aren't enough kids," He grunted, surprising the teacher. "There are twenty nine of them and ten of us. We're a kid short."

True to the statement Konohamaru suddenly felt warmth creep on his cheeks, scratching the back of his neck nervously. "Oops"

The shadow manipulator sighed, "I guess I'll take two…a third would just be more annoying." One more annoyed glance at the still pink Konohamaru and he scanned over the sea of kids.

"Inuzuka, Uzumaki, you're with me."

Both kids' heads snapped up to stare at their supposed sensei, before jerking them to the side to meet the other's narrowed gaze with scowls and growls already bubbling from their tightened throats.

Konohamaru paled considerably, "Uh, I don't think that-" The genin leader had already vanished from the line up, "Crap"

…..

Shikamaru stared up at the smooth blue sky, gazing after several plush white clouds that hung over head and morphed into various shapes. Part of him wondered if the two genin would even realize he hadn't given them a time, or a place to meet as his colleagues had done. He severely hoped they would figure it out, but the other part said if they didn't have enough sense or ability to track him without him hiding his presence in any way, then they needed to stay in the Academy.

His dark brown eyes soon became heavy under the tree's comforting shade and he _was_ on his way to a very peaceful nap, when a spike in two chakra signatures had him grunting in annoyance.

"I'm telling you _Uzumaki_ that his scent goes this way!"

"And I'm telling you _mutt_ that his chakra trail isn't that way!"

Okay, so the kids _could_ track him…

"What do you know about chakra trails, pinky!?"

"More than you, fang face!"

"Are you two _always _this annoying?" Shikamaru groaned, rolling his head upward to stare at the two students fighting on a tree branch.

Both looked surprised at the sudden appearance of their sensei, but it wore off when irritation was clear on their features.

"Hey! What's the big idea just leaving us hangin' back there!" The Inuzuka, he immediately recognized from the red markings, growled as he pounced out of the tree to land before the reclining jonin.

The shinobi sighed, "You found me didn't you?"

The girl with pink haired fluttered down next to her snarling teammate. "Was that our test? To find you?"

The Nara groaned, rubbing the heel of his palms into his tightly shut eyes. He had forgotten that he had to do that. Brown eyes took in the two twelve year olds before him, standing a decent width apart at that. Calculations and maneuvers formed in the depths of his mind, already analyzing his team. He had found a weakness between them and that would be what he tested.

Their heritage was clear as day to anyone that lived within the confines of the village. The girl's rosy pink tresses were fashioned into a loose braid, her bright blue eyes held a steel quality that reminded him of a certain Hokage, while her gangly twelve year old body was covered in different color pallet than her parents. A bright blue tee shirt hung off one shoulder and the hem fell down to her upper thighs, a blank tank underneath, and navy spandex shorts going to her knees.

The boy's fierce expression paired with his fangs and bright red markings showed his true Inuzuka heritage just as much as the brown puppy at his side. Brown spiky locks were pulled into a low pony-tail and slit like black eyes narrowed at their supposed leader in an underlying challenge. The jonin ignored the glare and took in the outrageously bright red jacket on the pre-teen's body, black tee underneath, and black ninja pants covering his legs.

Observations were over and it was time to break the thinned thread between the two. With a sigh he hauled himself upward and shoved his hands into his pockets, both of the genin's bodies tensed at the movement.

"Too easy," He muttered finally as he pulled out a pair of silver handcuffs from his pocket.

Before either genin could react, the device was snapped onto their thin wrists and they immediately growled. "HEY!"

"Your test is to take this from me," He held up a single bell, "While being attached to each other. Come at me with the intention to kill and retrieve this before sunrise tomorrow. Don't succeed and your butts are going to be shipped back to the Academy."

The spiky haired male snarled and yanked his arm forward to bring the Uzumaki girl with him, ignoring her growl of protest. "How am I supposed to fight with _her_ on me?!"

The pinkeette growled in retaliation as she roughly collided her shoulder into his own and knocked the Inuzuka off balance long enough to kick his foot out from under him. A smug smirk spread on her lips as he lay snarling on the ground.

Shikamaru silently sighed and shrugged, "Not my problem. You're team mates now, figure it out."

In a puff a smoke he was gone and they were frozen when realization hit them both.

…..

Shikamaru reclined against the branch was perched on, arms tucked behind his head, and a rather bored expression on his features. By his calculations, five of the fifteen clones he produced had been destroyed and all by the Inuzuka. The Uzumaki girl was holding back something and that something was what Shikamaru was attempting to prod out of her.

His brow arched at the echoed shouts of his team as they stumbled through the forest terrain and sighed, looking up at the orange splashed sky. "Troublesome"

Kakato growled in annoyance, yanking the girl's arm once more and continued to stomp forward through the forest. His nose burned with the extra chakra he was filtering in an attempt to catch a whiff of his sensei's scent, but only growled deeper at the well hidden nature of it. His wrist stung from the cuffs rubbing his skin raw from jerking and yanking Konohana around, and from trying to fight around her when they were ambushed. Chairomi was the only useful one. She would yip seconds before an attack would launch, giving him a fair warning.

She finally stumbled into the same stride as him, "Inuz-"

"Shut up, Uzumaki!"

A growl snapped his head to the side to see her leaning forward to invade his personal little bubble. "If you'd listen to me-"

"What do you know!? What can you do?! You ARE useless!"

Blue eyes glinted in anger as red bloomed across her neck and up to her cheeks. She gnashed her teeth together, "Fine then," she gritted out, "get hit."

His black eyes rolled and arched a brow at the pink haired kunoichi, "What are you goin' on abo-"

Her fingers flashed to her pouch, whipping out a shuriken and threw it over his head, causing him to yelp in surprise and then growl at the girl. "Hey! What are you-"

Konohana snarled in frustration, forcefully grabbing his chin and jerked it to the side just in time for him to see the shuriken dissipate a clone.

"Oh," He muttered lamely and deflated, eyes still focused on the spot that the clone had been. Chairomi nor him had detected it…

"Will you listen to me now?!" The Uzumaki roared, stomping her foot in clear irritation. "I'm not useless, you mutt!" A petite finger was shoved in his face, making his eyes go cross trying to look at it and the puppy barking at the threatening gesture. "We have to work together flea bag if you want to get that bell! I am not going back to the Academy because of _you_!"

Kakato scoffed at the pinkette as he pushed her hand aside to properly aim a glare at her. His black slit eyes narrowed even further, leaning in until they were almost nose to nose. "It was nothin' but luc-"

She flicked a kunai to the side, just as a shadow clone leapt at them from the trees. It collided with his throat, went through the puff of smoke, and thunked into the rough bark of the nearest tree.

Her ocean eyes morphed into slits that almost mimicked his own and tilted her head up in a threatening gesture, "You were sayin'?"

"Fine!" The genin boy snorted, he turned his dark gaze on the still fuming Uzumaki, "Okay, what can ya do pinky?"

…..

Shikamaru yawned heartily, arms stretching above his spiky head. The series of pops that echoed from his stiff joints made the jonin grumble, scratching the small beard on his chin in thought. His still heavy gaze lifted to the onyx sky filled with thousands of bright, white stars, and the full moon illuminating the forest.

"They still got five hours." He murmured with a sigh.

His nap had lasted the majority of the day, since his clones kept the brats busy by running them around in circles. It was merely to gather intel on the two genin and the information that bombarded him had him cocking an eyebrow.

Four more clones had been dissipated and they were all by the girl.

Flashes of the pinkette's shurikens filled his mind as they zipped through the air and hit clone after clone in a calculated manner. His brows furrowed at the exactness the gesture held, seeming eerily familiar…

He had seen that somewhere before…but where?

Her file consisted of a few bits of information on her. It had noted that she did have good aim and her hand to hand combat skills were decent, but there wasn't too much on her ninjutsu.

As for the boy, he excelled in ninjutsu and hand to hand, but his aim wasn't exactly good quality. Out of every ten kunai, three hit the mark. Chairomi improved his statics when they combined themselves into their techniques.

Shikamaru grunted; his eyes narrowed in concentration.

Nothing was heard other than the soft rustle of the leaves in the night time breeze and the occasional chirping bird as it settled in for the night. He jolted suddenly; three more clones were gone from the girl's attacks. The shadow ninja sighed, pulling himself to his feet, and shoving his hands into his pockets.

They had been heading in his direction when the three clones intercepted them. None of them were ordered to give too much resistance; they were purely for gathering information. In a chakra infused jump, he vanished into the trees.

About time he stepped in..

…..

Another pop of the clone filled the air with smoke and in its place a shuriken was embedded into the bark; the two genin zipped by it and continued on through the trees. Chairomi's tongue hung out happily, while she panted at the welcoming breeze.

Kakato glanced over at his so called team mate and grunted. She wasn't completely useless. Whenever something slipped by him and Chairomi, she would catch it like a safety net for them.

The chain dangling between their wrists kept them within three feet of the other at all times, and things started to move smoother when Chairomi stopped taking a snap at the girl.

"It's been too easy," She grumbled out of the blue, pausing as they dropped into a crouch on a branch. Her pink brows remained furrowed, "Those clones weren't even tryin'."

The Inuzuka grunted in agreement. It had been too easy. His slit like eyes zipped around the surroundings and growled, "I don't smell anymore of 'em."

He hadn't smelled the past few, much to his frustration. They had picked up on his weaknesses here and there, and now they were targeting Konohana. Inch by inch, her accuracy was tested to its limits.

The girl's eyes dropped shut, her entire body stilling at the action as she pushed her senses outward. Kakato arched a brow at her statue state, feeling the small pulsation of her chakra increasing as it brushed by him.

He recoiled at the tingling sensation and snarled, "What are you-"

Her palm flew up and collided with his skull.

"Ow!"

Eyes remained shut, scrunched in concentration and lips thinned, "Shh, stop running your-"

"Don't you tell me-"

"MOVE!"

"Wha-HEY!"

She jerked the chain connecting them as she leapt down to a lower branch just as a flash a silver zipped to the spot they had been. Her head tilted upward to see seven shuriken embedded into the branch where they had been and cursed.

"Crap, they're on offense now."

Kakato silently admired the precisely thrown devices, turning his attention to the frowning female. "How-" A sudden approaching scent cut him off. "Move Uzumaki!"

His shoulder collided with hers, pushing her to the neighboring tree just as she spun, and her thin fingers releasing a kunai that zipped upward to dissipate an ambusher.

Too bad neither of them sensed the other one.

The sharp heal that suddenly slammed into her gut made her vision blur and the air rush out of her in a painful gasp. The attacker drove her form through the branch beneath them, jumping off in time to land safely, while she took her partner with her as they roughly bounced off each limb.

Konohana's grip slipped each time she reached out, her body still tingling from the attack, and cursed every time she hit another branch. Kakato growled in determination as chakra surged through him, his nails and fangs elongating, and latched onto a branch just as they both slipped off. Both of them sighed in relief.

Slit like eyes slipped down to his partner, helplessly dangling by the chain that connected them. The metal was biting into both of their wrists from the weight.

"Grab my hand," He grunted out, nails digging into the thick bark. "Uzumaki!"

A crimson trail snaked down her arm, tainting the light blue fabric of her blue tee shirt. She hissed at the metal cutting into her already raw skin, her fingers wiggling to try wrap around his.

They were sitting ducks.

A shuriken flew at the pinkette, slicing the dirty skin of her cheek.

Her fingers curled around the chain, attempting to pull herself upward, but the blood made the metal slick making her grasp slip. "Crap!"

Shikamaru silently admired his students, dirty and helpless. No, usually the genin weren't injured during tests, but the shadow controller had to make it harder. They were a member short and would only have the other from here on out, they needed to be pushed to their breaking point.

"Inuzuka," A calm voice announced, making the two snap their attention to their sensei and his clone crouched in the tree next to them. "I suggest you get Uzumaki up. She looks like bait to me."

Chairomi whimpered down at the female, and then looked up at her master growling lightly. Kakato cursed, glancing down at the still struggling girl, the metal cutting further and further into both of their wrists.

Without warning Chairomi climbed up Kakato's arm from the confines of his coat, and landed on the branch, pulling at his sleeve with her teeth, trying to pull both genin up.

"Chairomi," Kakato grunted with a faint smile.

The puppy growled in assurance, fiercely digging her little claws into the branch as she pulled.

Shikamaru silently observed the pair, before jumping onto the branch. Both of his students tensed, the puppy still pulling at her master's red sleeve as he crouched down to look at the boy.

"You both fail. If this were real Inuzuka, your opponent would have killed Uzumaki to make her dead weight, and then killed you."

Kakato gulped at the glint in their teacher's eyes, just before unconsciousness swept over the three of them like a tide from the sensei's hand signs. All it took was a small nudge for them to begin to fall the deadly twenty feet fall to the unforgiving ground.

Shikamaru sighed as he vanished and reappeared beneath them.

They plummeted straight into his arms below. His newly summoned clones caught the girl and the boy with ease, while a snoring puppy landed into his own grasps.

His gaze swept over his team, before he snapped his head to the side to see the newly appeared ANBU. Long blonde hair made it a dead give away, despite the porcelain mask.

"Ino," He grumbled as the captain pushed her mask up onto her head and whistled lowly at the sight before her.

"Dang, what'd you do to them?"

Shikamaru grunted, "What do you want?"

The blonde smirked at her former teammate and shrugged, hands placed on her hips. "Hokage sent me out to get the results from the squad leaders. You're last on the list. So, they pass or not?"

"They-" He paused when he caught something out of the corner out of his eye. The bloodied chain that dangled between them now secured a pair of dirtied hands, firmly interlocked.

Ino cleared her throat pointedly and he grumbled, "They pass."

"Good," The ANBU smiled, clearly satisfied, "You'll be happy to learn Shikami passed also."

He only grunted his acknowledgement, still partially looking at the unconscious pair. The blonde shrugged, pushing her mask back over her smirking features, "By the way…have fun taking them to be healed."

In a flash she was gone, and he cursed in realization. Sakura was in charge of the genin healings for after their tests.

"Crap"


	4. Teammates: Age 12: Part 2

**Author's Note: Thank you guys for the reviews/alerts/ favorites. They really do make my day (: But, hope you guys enjoy this new chapter! **

* * *

**Age 12: Part 2**

…**.**

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM!?"

Shikamaru didn't recoil at the outraged howl of the head medic ninja standing before him, her hands flexing as a vein pulsed on her broad forehead. The shadow ninja gave the quaking kunoichi a cool look, eyebrow raised, "Gave them their test."

That didn't seem to be the answer she was looking for.

Sakura snorted, green eyes a flame as her arms crossed stiffly over her chest in an attempt not to commit murder in front of the entire hospital. Her gaze swept between the two clones, appraising the dirtied genin in their grasps, and tried to keep a firm hold on her growing anger.

How was she supposed to act when her daughter and her teammate are brought in handcuffed!?

Silently, a single shaking finger pointed sharply at the blood crusted metal between the two twelve year olds. "Take that off of them."

"You could just break it."

Her eyebrow twitched at the monotone, "Take the cuffs off_ now_."

Dull brown eyes calmly took in the pinkette, determining that her anger level was about to earn himself a meeting with a hospital bed. He wasn't stupid. He knew better than to poke an angry momma bear.

"Troublesome," Was all he uttered, pulling a small silver key from his pocket. He took extra care not to disturb the two unconscious kids under the monster's scrutinizing glare, carefully unlocking both ends of the device and slipped them into his pocket. "Better?"

Sakura didn't reply verbally, but did send him a nasty glare as she gestured to two, freshly cleaned beds. "Put them over there."

To be honest, all she had been expecting was to be healing small cuts here and there, and maybe a bruise. But, when she saw the shadow nin stroll in with her daughter bloody and unconscious she literally saw red.

Silently, she lifted the Inuzuka's wrist. The laceration went at an angle, dark maroon dried along the straight lined border of the wound, and from the looks of it she deduced that it was deeper at the top than the bottom.

Her narrowed gaze locked on their sensei, "What exactly did you have them doing?"

"Bell test." Was all he offered, knowing she was familiar with that particular test.

But, judging by the thinning of her lips, her scrunching features, and her popping knuckles, she didn't buy it. "Last time I recalled baka, handcuffing wasn't part of it!"

"We were a kid short, so I only took two." He shrugged, folding his arms casually behind his head as he leaned against the pristine white wall. "I had to test them on team work. They struggled during the entire test, too busy biting the other's head off to pay attention that the clones I sent after them were testing them for weaknesses. The end result was them dangling from a branch, causing those." He faintly nodded towards the tan wrist still in her delicate grasp.

Pink brows furrowed, gazing down at the wrist in her hand. Rather quietly, she wrapped her chakra encased hand around Kakato's wrist, letting the green chakra mend the broken flesh. "You still passed them."

Shikamaru rolled his shoulders, glancing between the two, "They learned their lesson." Them holding hands at the end had been enough proof for him that they wouldn't leave the other out to dry again.

The medic ninja didn't offer any more reprimands or questions as she attended to her work. It did take effort to not rip the sensei a new one, but she held back for the sake of getting the kids healed. Once she was satisfied that they were both properly healed, she calmly gestured to the building's exit.

"I'll call Hinata to come get Kakato and I'll take Konohana home after my shift." The pinkette supplied, opening the door stiffly.

Shikamaru could take a hint. He slipped past the kunoichi, intent on going home, only to hear the hospital door shut and for a firm hand to land on his shoulder. He turned to see a smirking Sakura with a glint in her eyes, her fingers flexing on their grip on his jacket…

BAM!

A sharp upper cut sent him sailing through the air.

The kunoichi popped her knuckles in satisfaction and went back to attend to her patients.

….

A total of eight genin passed their exams and had the pleasure of keeping their rank, while the remainder got a one way trip back to the Academy. It still hadn't sunk in for those eight that they were officially ninja. But, of course, once the glamour faded away they found out it wasn't exactly an easy occupation.

Especially, when you hate your teammate.

Konohana sat idly in the soft green grass, chin propped up on her palm, while she watched the Inuzuka heir and his faithful canine companion attempt the famous Fang Passing Fang jutsu. Why was she sitting a good twenty feet away from them?

So she was far enough away to watch the train wreck of course!

Now, for the majority of the jutsu the pair did perfectly fine. But, apparently Kakato didn't maneuver very well through the air, resulting in many, _many _face plants. Shikamaru simply kept an eye on the squirts, a blade of grass between his teeth, and his back propped up against a tree. They had all been a team for officially five months and he was still observing. He wanted to see more of their abilities other than when they were tied together.

Kakato may excel in ninjutsu, but he was a dunce when it came to aim. Hence, why he kept flopping face first on the ground, while his pup whimpered worriedly at her master as he picked his bloody face out of the grass and got up again.

It was kind of sad. But, it was part of learning.

This routine continued on for several hours, Konohana never budged once to train a technique of her own. Shikamaru had a sneaking suspicion why though. Every ninja had a signature manner in which they went about their jutsus. The Nara, for example, infused shadow jutsu with many things. The Inuzuka had the assistance of dog nin and canine related jutsus.

She didn't have a signature. It seemed to him that she was still struggling through, attempting to find something that clicked naturally with her.

All pondering snapped though when the pinkette rose to her feet, and approached her face planted team mate. Shikamaru's eyebrows raised when she stopped by Chairomi.

The puppy curiously looked up at the female as she crouched down to the level of her still frozen teammate. Carefully, her hands help push him into a sitting position, revealing his bloodied and bitter face.

"What do _you_ want?!" He barked at her, slapping her hands from his shoulders.

She didn't flinch, but did scowl lightly. "Your aim sucks."

The boy snorted, crossing his arms over his chest as he rested on his knees and looked away from the kunoichi. Blue eyes glanced up to the leaf emblem emblazoned on his forehead, a few streaks of dried blood on the metal. His lip was busted and nose bloody from the many failed attempts.

"The jutsu is meant for you two to become a spiral to shred through your enemy, right?"

All emotion slipped from the Inuzuka's face, looking at her with a mixture of surprise and suspicion in his slit like eyes. "What of it?"

Shikamaru's brows furrowed, leaning forward at her observation.

"You're messing up on the rotation."

"I already know that, wench!"

The pinkette's scowl deepened, "I think it's because Chairomi's size is messing you up."

"Nothing's wrong with her!" He roared in defense, leaping to his feet so he could tower over the kunoichi. Chairomi growled her agreement, taking a snap at the female's hand.

It was her turn to growl, rising to her feet so that they would be eye to eye. "I'm not saying that! I'm just saying that her size throws you off because your aim is so crappy!"

Kakato snorted, arms crossed, "How do you-"

"You didn't have any problems rotating around me when we were dodging during our test, and I've seen you do Passing Fang just fine!"

He paused in his next insult, eyebrows furrowing, "What are you getting at?"

Konohana face palmed, dragging the palm roughly down her reddening features. "You're an idiot." She took a deep sigh, "Can it be done with three?"

"Three?" The word felt foreign on his tongue, "I guess..my aunt Hana's done it with all three of her ninken...I think…" Kakato's eyes narrowed in suspicion, "Why?" And then it hit him like a ten ton weight, shamelessly his eyes went wide as he pointed at the girl, "You want to do Fang Passing Fang with me and Chairomi!"

To Kakato's surprise, she actually jumped then blushed at the accusation. "I-"

"You expect me to teach you a clan technique! Have you hit your head Uzumaki!? Everyone in my clan has done it with only their ninken and I-"

"You're not your clan!" She roared, slapping his offending hand away, her face now resembling a tomato.

"What do you know?!"

"I know what it's like to be compared to someone else!"

Silence, fell over the training grounds. Kakato's mouth hanging open shamelessly and Shikamaru's eyes snapping wide as he leaned just a bit more forward. The Uzumaki heiress panted, her face morphing back to its more original color when she realized what exactly she had said.

Her blue eyes darted to the side to avoid the Inuzuka's piercing stare, suddenly taking on the bout of shyness she had when they first met. "Nevermind, it was a stupid idea. Forget I said anything."

Then, she just turned and walked away from him, heading back up to her previous spot.

Shikamaru saw enough, rising to his feet to approach the still frozen Inuzuka.

Pointedly, he cleared his throat, making Kakato's head snap to the side. "You were right, that was incredibly stupid for her to ask you to reveal a clan jutsu to her." The Inuzuka's mouth opened, but was silenced by Shikamaru raising a hand, "But, she obviously already knows the mechanics of the jutsu."

"What are you ramblin' about old man?"

Shikamaru restrained the urge to slap him silly and merely grunted, his eye twitching, "How much do you know about her?"

"What does that-"

"Answer the question Inuzuka."

Kakato paused momentarily, eyebrows scrunched in thought, "She's the Hokage and the head medic ninja's daughter, she's got okay aim, and…." He paused, "And…uh…"

Shikamaru stole a quick glance over his shoulder at the kunoichi, her back facing the pair as she slashed with precision at the air with a kunai, and returned his attention to the boy. "She's your teammate and her observation skills have already dissected your weaknesses, and I bet she can tell me the mechanics of all your jutsus."

The Inuzuka's face flushed red in anger, "Why that little-"

SMACK!

"Ow, sensei!" The dog nin snarled, rubbing the new lump on his head.

"Shut up and let me finish lecturing you so I can lecture her next." He groaned, rubbing his face over with his palm. "You two are such a pain." Shikamaru fixed him with a look that told him to stop whining and to shut up. "That's her strengths you dope. She has aim and observation, that's it. Haven't you noticed her avoid using ninjutsu?"

All the Inuzuka could reply with was a silent, "Oh…"

"You're a team, you're stuck with each other, so I suggest you suck up whatever dislike you have for her and learn to work like a team. I've turned down seven missions because you two can't function as a team."

"Seven missions!"

Shikamaru sighed, "The rest of your classmates are ahead of you two by a long shot because of it."

"But-"

"Shut up Inuzuka and work on your jutsu." Was all his sensei offered as he turned on his heal and turned his attention to the pinkette.

Kakato watched silently as his sensei, true to his word, reprimanded the Uzumaki heiress for asking for such a stupid thing. Several smacks to the back of her head were given and soon it turned into a full blown yelling match that ended with Shikamaru possessing her shadow to keep her from talking. A small tug at his pant leg directed his attention to whimpering Chairomi, making him sigh.

"I know girl. This sucks."

…

Konohana panted with exertion, her hair long fallen from her braid, dirt and sweat smearing her features as she stared up at the black sky dotted with white. Her sensei's rough words still rung through her ears, calling her a dope for being oblivious to sacred things such as clan secrets, and telling her not to be so naïve about the ways of the ninja world.

The sudden pulsation of chakra had a shuriken flying from her fingertips to be caught in the capable hands of her teammate.

Kakato raised a brow; the shuriken would have collided with his heart if he hadn't caught it. Maybe the old man had a point…

The pinkette groaned as he landed in the grass next to her, Chairomi curling up by his side, happily panting. "What do ya want?"

"I'm-"

"Don't apologize, I was out of line." She snapped, eyes dark with the threat.

The bitterness in her lavender increased with a powerful punch, making his nose crinkle and Chairomi whimper as she covered her sensitive nose with her paws.

He scowled down at the girl, plopping down to cross his legs beside her sprawled form. "Fine then, wench." It was silent all of two seconds before he blurted out, "Do you know how all my jutsus work?!"

Konohana blinked for a second, before her own pink eyebrow arched, "Uh….Is that a trick question that'll get me killed?"

"NO! I-" He paused, curiously looking down at her, "I just want to know."

"They all basically involve rotation with your partner and some type of transformation."

Relief spread through him at her vague answer, his dad would kill him if she had figured out the clan's techniques. "Okay"

"Is that all you want?"

He glanced back at the pinkette, watching her rise to her feet to tower over his sitting form, her eyebrows raised as though she expected more of an interrogation. "Uh…that's all…"

She shrugged, crossing her arms behind her head as she turned on her heal. "See ya tomorrow at training then."

He didn't reply, watching her blue back vanish, and looked down at the brown puppy staring up at him with big eyes. "She's not…..horrible."

….

A week later, Shikamaru waltzed onto the training field where his students were and nearly tripped over his own two feet at the sight before him. Kakato was sitting silently on the grass, watching Konohana train with her shuriken and kunai.

The Nara settled down on the grass next to the Inuzuka, who didn't tear his gaze away from the pinkette as she beat at the tree's damaged bark. "Learn anything?"

Kakato scratched the back of his neck, "She hasn't done any ninjutsu yet, and…um…she's vulnerable when she tries to sense stuff."

Not exactly a high level observation, but Shikamaru took it as a step forward. "Better then nothin'," He smirked, plucking a grass blade to place between his lips. "There might be some hope for you two after all."

Kakato scowled, "I still don't like her."

All the jonin could do was slap his forehead. "….I take that back."

…

Their first mission was a simple D-rank, much to the two genin's frustration. Shikamaru had requested a simple mission, nothing too high level, but that had a small amount of risk to it. They were assigned to help rebuild a few houses. The risk?

Shikamaru thought that his two students had enough risk by working together. He sat calmly in the small dirt path, eyeing their students' work. They were working as more of a unit, but something still bothered him.

"Uzumaki!" He barked, making said girl nearly fall off the ladder she was on. "Make some clones."

"But, Inu-"

"I didn't ask him to," Shikamaru replied smoothly, pointedly targeting the fidgeting girl with a look. "I asked you to. Now get to it, pinky."

Kakato paused in nailing a board on the roof, curiously looking at the pinkening girl. A small sigh escaped the girl, scaling down the ladder, and then went through the hand signs. One clone appeared next to her a moment later.

"I said clones, as in plural, make another."

That was when her cheeks bloomed into red, her hands shaking a bit as they went through the signs once again. A second appeared.

"Another"

A third appeared.

"Make it ten," He stated calmly, glancing up at the Inuzuka who was staring in curiosity at his teammate.

Konohana went through the signs, her head pulsating with tension, and her face draining of color as she forced her control to loosen enough for the required amount of chakra to flow through her.

Ten clones appeared and she looked like a ghost.

Shikamaru remained silent, noting her pale features and how her fingers messaged her temples in an attempt to soothe the pain. "Your control is too tight.."

"I know that!" The pinkette snapped irritably, her head still tingling.

"Well, miss know it all, did you know that it's because you're a nervous wreck when you do ninjutsu?"

_That_ shut her up; her mouth hanging open like a gaping fish, Inuzuka's howling laughter falling deaf on her ears. Shikamaru tossed a rock at his student, shutting him up also with a yelp, "You sound like a hyena Inuzuka, it's annoying."

Kakato grumbled, rubbing the top of his skull and returned to his nailing with a scowl.

Satisfied, the Nara turned his gaze to the still gaping girl, "Why are you nervous when you do ninjutsu?"

"I…uh…well"

The sensei exhaled deeply, rubbing the back of his neck and gave her a meaningful look. "I know you're not your dad, runt. I don't expect you to whip out fifty shadow clones like it's nothing."

Her cheeks colored and he knew he had hit the nail on the head. Kakato had even paused in his work, looking down at the pinkette with something akin to confusion on his fierce features.

Is that what she had meant?

"_I know what it's like to be compared to someone else!"_

Shikamaru caught his student's gaze on the still fidgeting girl and felt as if he may have just torn down one of the many walls keeping them apart. His eyes quickly refocused on the kunoichi and sighed, "Get your clones to help out and get back to work."

All she gave in response was a small bob of her head and she turned back, her clones leaping up onto the roof and zipping around to help, all the while Kakato looked at her, confused as ever.

"Kakato! Quit gawking!"

His cheeks flushed in anger and grumbled about senile old men, while Chairomi yipped in laughter around a mouth full of nails she was holding for him.

He glared at her, "Traitor."

She dropped all his nails of the roof and he cursed.

…..

Two months later, Hinata insisted on having Kakato's new teammate over for dinner. Kiba and Kakato both protested heavily, but in the end all it took was one phone call to the Uzumaki residence.

"Hinata, don't bring that Uzumaki runt around here!" Her husband whined.

"Mom! Please don't-"

"Oh, hello, Sakura!" The navy haired woman spoke cheerfully, the boy's complaints falling on deaf ears. Her pale finger twisted the cord in a lingering nervous habit as she continued, "I was wondering if Konohana could come down here for dinner tomorrow?"

Both of the Inuzuka boys banged their heads against the closest wall, placing dents into the light painted surface. The high pitch response filtering from the phone only made them groan even more, knowing that it had been a yes for Hinata to smile so happily.

"Sure, I'm sure he would love to have dinner over there the night after."

Kakato gaped at his mother, his father howling with laughter at his son's misery. "Mom! I don't-"

The narrowed glare of white lavender eyes made him snap his mouth shut, and look at his feet like a whipped puppy. He sometimes wondered what his mother was like back when his dad had first met her. He couldn't picture her stuttering and blushing, it was just…._weird_.

When he heard the click of the phone returning to its place, he meekly looked up at his mother, smiling warmly at her only son. "It won't be so bad."

"You don't know her."

"I'm sure she's a lovely young woman."

Kakato snorted, crossing his arms stubbornly over his chest, "She's the devil incarnate."

"Well, I suggest you get some rosary."

…..

Sakura was having some problems of her own at the Uzumaki residence. Her arms crossed firmly over her chest, green eyes narrowed at her husband and daughter both. "It's just dinner Naruto! Honestly, I'm not feeding her to sharks!"

Naruto snorted, keeping his precious daughter in a smothering hug that kept her face jammed into his chest. "No! You're feeding her to wolves!"

The medic nin snorted, eyes rolling in exasperation. "You're over reacting."

"No, I'm not! You're going to get her killed!"

A pink eyebrow arched, "And you're not killin' her by smothering her to death?"

It took the Hokage a moment to take in the statement, before he glanced down to his daughter's flailing limbs and yelped, yanking her away from his person. She sucked in a large breath of air, her blue features regaining color once again.

Sakura rolled her eyes, but directed a warmer look to her daughter. "It'll be alright, just one dinner there, and then he's coming over here the next night."

Both Konohana and Naruto went white, "WHAT?! HE'S COMING OVER HERE!"

"Do you two want me to get the duct tape, _again_?"


	5. Improvement: Age 12: Part 3

**Author's Note: Here's the next installment, I hope you guys will enjoy it. And thank you for the reviews/alerts/favorites! **

* * *

**Improvement: Age 12: Part 3**

…**..**

To say Kakato was dreading his cursed teammate coming over for dinner was the understatement of his short twelve year old life. His mother fussed over the house, which was always slightly array, they _were_ Inuzuka's after all, and worried over little things like white or brown rice.

Really?!

But, it was in his mother's kind, caring nature to want people to be comfortable and happy. He attempted to assure her that there was no need to even get to know Konohana, and the look she gave him paused him in his little rant.

She looked…sad. Her big white, lavender eyes were filled with sympathy as she shook her head at her son, pushing a stray lock of navy from her pale face. "We need to have a talk, Kakato."

"What did I do?!" He squeaked, jumping back from her comforting hand. "I swear I didn't break it!"

"Huh? Broke what?"

Seeing his critical error, the Inuzuka smiled widely, baring his fangs and all, "Nothing! Nothing!" It didn't get rid of the narrowed gaze she was giving him now. "What did you want to talk about Mom?"

Silently, she gestured to their well-worn, tan sofa and lowered herself onto the cushions with the grace of a princess. He flopped next to her, landing on his stomach, and directed a goofy grin up at her. Hinata's eyes softened at her baby, running her fingers through his wild spikes of hair.

"I want to make sure you understand something," She began, a warm tone wrapping around her words. "What does the word teammate mean to you, Kakato?"

His eyebrows furrowed in concentration, scratching one of the marks on his cheek, "Um…I guess someone you fight with in battle."

A sigh left his mother and his confusion deepened. Softly, she shook her head, her pale fingers moving to cup his red marked cheek, "A teammate is someone you do fight with, but they are so much more."

"Huh?"

Hinata chuckled, her gaze warming at the way he wrinkled his nose. He had picked that up from his father no doubt. "A teammate is someone you trust with your life, no matter what. A person you'll share bonds with for your entire life."

"Oh…" Was all that left the pondering shinobi.

"Did you know your father and I were teammates?"

Slit like eyes widened into saucers, jerking his gaze to see his mother's quirked lips. "What?!"

She nodded her head once, a kind smile spreading over her features, "We were Team Eight with your uncle Shino."

"You guys were all a team?"

"Mhm," A small giggle escaped her at the wonder and surprise that filled his still round face. In a smooth movement, her arms lifted him into her lap, adoring the embarrassed blush on his cheeks.

His arms crossed over his chest, blush darkening, "_Mooom!"_

Hinata merely chuckled, nuzzling his warm cheek with her small nose, "Just think about what I said, okay?"

Reluctantly, under the influence of his mom's comforting touch and heartwarming smile, he grumbled out an, "Okay." But, meekly he added a small, "I love you."

A wide smile took over the former Hyuuga's features, a light sparkled in her white lavender eyes as she squeezed him around the middle, and kissed his temple. "I love you too."

The tender mother-son moment was soon ruined by someone clearing his throat _very_ loudly, making both turn their attention to the doorway. Much too his horror, Kiba stood leaning in the doorway, a smug smile revealing his fangs. "You're such a momma's boy!" He cackled, only furthering his son's embarrassment.

"_Kiba_"

All laughter halted at the _very_ commanding tone coming from his wife. His slit like eyes watched as she gently settled their son on the sofa, before rising to her feet. He gulped dryly at the spark in her gaze, "How about we spar?" Her smooth as honey tone suggested with a bite to it, "For old times' sake?"

The Inuzuka froze under the clear challenge, but slowly regained his cocky smirk. "You're on, what does the winner get?"

Hinata crossed her arms over her chest, her smirk almost the mirror of her husband's. "I win and you don't call Kakato a Momma's boy anymore."

Kiba's smirk widened, leaning in slightly so that his nose almost brushed hers, "And if _I_ win?"

"Then, you can tease him all you want and I won't interfere."

Kakato paled, glancing between both of his parents nervously. Now see, it was times like this one that he just _couldn't_ see his mother being shy and timid. She challenged their father's authority on almost a daily basis when it came to him and his sister.

"Backyard?" He suggested, rolling his shoulders smoothly.

The kunoichi shrugged neutrally, "Won't matter," The veins around her eyes bulged, causing the Inuzuka to pause in his stretching. She smirked, "Just as long as you know you're sleeping where you land."

…

An hour later, Hinata strolled back into the room to see her two children both sitting on the sofa, staring at her in suspicion. She smiled warmly, "Your father won't be joining us for dinner." Then, strode back into the kitchen humming a little tune along the way.

Mimi stared after her slack jawed, shaking her head, and then turned to her brother's open palm with a small scowl. "Hand it over sis." She grumbled, slapping a small amount of money into his hand. Kakato smirked, counting his winnings, "You don't bet against an angry mom, sheesh, I thought that was common sense."

…..

Later that night a small knock on the door sent their mother flying. Hinata smoothed the stray stands of her navy locks, before opening the door to reveal a meek Uzumaki heiress smiling at her. The older kunoichi grinned warmly, "You must be Konohana."

The pinkette nodded; a strand of pink falling from her braid. "Yes..um…nice to meet you Mrs. Inuzuka." She bowed slightly, and Hinata's smile widened.

"Come on in and please just call me Hinata."

Pink lips curled up at the corners at the woman's warm voice and she slid into the room, almost automatically feeling the way the entire place just radiated with love. It made her want to just curl up into a ball and sleep.

"Kakato, Mimi!"

A pink brow arched at the second name, turning her blue gaze to the older woman. "Kakato has a sister?"

Shock immediately morphed Hinata's pale features, "Y-You didn't know?" The small girl's hesitant nod was answer enough that made the Hyuuga's shoulders slump and her white lavender eyes sadden. "Um..yes, she's three years older than you two actually."

Without another word she led the pinkette into the living room to where she knew her children would be, but nothing took away the worry line that formed between her brows.

….

The dinner had went rather smoothly, Mimi yammering to Konohana about girly things and Kakato making sarcastic remarks towards his teammate only to be on the receiving end of his mother's glare. Over all, it went better than Hinata predicted based on how her son talked about the young kunoichi. But, one thing nagged her constantly in the back of her mind.

It was bad enough that when Kiba finally returned from his 'camping trip' popping his sore neck and grumbling about 'crappy eye tricks' that he found his wife in the kitchen. Worry practically radiated off her slumped form, her arms crossed as she leaned against the counter.

"Hinata?"

Concerned pale eyes met his slit ones, "She didn't know Kakato even had a sister. They've been a team for seven months Kiba, and she didn't have a clue that Mimi even existed."

…..

Konohana rolled her eyes at her mother's fussing over her pink hair the night Kakato was going to come to dinner. "Mom, what's the big deal? He's seen me covered in dirt!"

Sakura mimicked her daughter's eye roll perfectly, placing her hands on her hips. "It's just something different Konohana. Just try it." At her daughter's blow fish cheeks, she grinned in victory as she unwove the silky pink tresses from the traditional braid and fashioned it the way she wore it when she was a genin. "There!"

She stepped back slightly, and froze. She had always seen the resemblance between them, but right then she saw a miniature her staring back at her with big blue eyes and with sweeping bangs pinned by barrettes to the side.

Her features softened into smile, "When did you get so big?"

"I dunno"

Her mom snorted, brushing a stray strand of pink behind her daughter's ear, "My baby girl." Her usually strong tone cracked and green eyes blinked rapidly, forcing back the tears as she gave her a wobbly smile, "Go make sure Daddy hasn't burned the chicken for me, would you?"

Konohana shrugged, hopping to her feet and strode to the kitchen to see her father with his nose scrunched. "Dad?"

Naruto jumped and spun around to see his only child arching an eyebrow at him. Nervously, he grinned, "Hey honey!"

She flinched at the high tone, "Uh, is everything alright?"

"Sure! Why wouldn't it be?!"

"Because you sound like you're high." She deadpanned, much to her father's horror and crossed her arms. "You didn't burn the chicken did you?"

The guilty way he scratched the back of his neck and how his blue eyes found his sandal clad feet much more interesting gave it away. "Uh…don't tell your mom."

The twelve year old giggled, swiftly taking the pan and dumping the burned remains into the garbage, and pulled out some fresh chicken to cook. "I'll take care of it."

"Have I mentioned that I love you?"

"Yes, Daddy."

"Just making sure," He chuckled, ruffling her pink hair fondly.

….

When the phone rung just ten minutes before Kakato was scheduled to arrive, Sakura thought it may be her former sensei calling to tell her that she was too drunk to make it. Imagine her surprise that it _was_ Tsunade, but she was calling from the hospital stating that they needed her to come in for the night.

The pinkette grumbled under her breath, raking her fingers through her tresses as she strolled into the kitchen to see her daughter cooking. Her eyebrow arched, but she let it go just for tonight. "Naruto"

Said blonde Hokage aimed his thousand watt smile at his wife, "Yeah, Sakura?"

"I got to go to the hospital tonight, think you can handle dinner?"

Her words doused the sunshine that he radiated, but for her benefit he recovered. His blue eyes didn't shine like they were supposed to and he smile wavered at the corners, "Yeah," He ruffled his daughter's hair once again, "We got this covered, don't we kiddo?"

Konohana hummed her agreement, flipping the chicken, "It'll be okay Mom, and I'll make sure Daddy won't give us food poisoning."

Naruto snorted and Sakura smirked, placing a kiss on her daughter's crown, "That's my girl." She turned her attention to her now pouting husband and chuckled, giving him his on peck on the lips, "I'll try to get back soon."

"I know," He chuckled, kissing her cheek. "I'll keep the kids alive."

"Please do. Last thing I wanna hear is that they died from your cooking."

Naruto grumbled as his daughter chirped, "That's why _I'm_ cooking!"

…..

All the introductions were pleasant, and Konohana remained on her best behavior in front of her father. Now…behind him was another matter. No sooner did the Hokage turned his back were the pair making goofy faces at the other and shooting deadly glares that would make their mothers proud. Through dinner went smoothly…after Konohana quit trying to cook and her father got take out Ichiraku ramen, then of course, they swore Kakato to secrecy to not tell her mother.

After dinner, they all went out back to play a game of ninja tag. Konohana and Kakato against Naruto. Too bad they wouldn't stop fighting long enough to escape the Hokage.

Naruto sweat dropped, gazing at the two glaring teammates and sighed. "You two have a long way to go."

The two soon came up with a swift pact to keep their moms from forcing any other dinners together down their throats. After practice they would claim to get dinner together, giving the practical illusion to their parents that they were getting along. In reality, they went to two different food stands and went home.

…..

Another month came and went, Team Shikamaru still fell behind in the mission statistics and personally, the jonin had about enough of his students' bickering. So, he took action in the only way he deemed fit.

"Give them a C rank mission."

Naruto froze in his paper work, lifting his widened blue gaze to meet that of annoyance, "Huh?"

Shikamaru sighed, rubbing his palm over his features, "Give them a C rank mission. They're not going to learn any other way."

"I-I don't think that's a good idea. They've only done several _extremely_ low ranking D missions so far. The other teams have at least…"

"That's nice and dandy, but these two knuckle heads aren't going to learn any other way." The sensei groaned, crossing his arms over his chest, "I know your concern. I've tried everything in the book to get them to see that they need each other, but it's not getting through." Shikamaru sighed, brows furrowed, "They need a rude awakening."

The Hokage's features softened at his comrade's words, his gaze falling to the stacks of assignments awaiting teams to be dispatched for. Naruto deflated, "There's a guard position needed." Shikamaru perked his attention as he continued, "A merchant requested a small team to guard over the rebuilding of his shop in a small village to the west. He's had a few complaints of harassment and break-ins since the reconstruction started, after his shop was set on fire."

"We'll take it."

"But, can they handle it," He grunted, pulling out the mission brief. His gaze locked on Shikamaru's and scowled, "You'll be dispatched for five days and another team will come to replace you."

The jonin nodded in a thoughtful manner, taking the piece of paper from the Hokage. One detail though jumped out at him. "His shop was destroyed for servicing travelling ninja." He arched a brow and looked at the neutral Naruto, "And he requested for ninjas to come and guard him…in a ninja hating village."

"Never said it made sense," Naruto snorted, "You said you wanted C rank and its C rank."

The instructed nodded, folding the brief and stuffing it into his pocket. "Figures…We'll leave tomorrow at day break." Without another word, Shikamaru turned on his heal and began to stroll out the door.

"Shikamaru!"

He glanced over his shoulder to see his Hokage running a hand over his stressed features, "Just…" He groaned, "Be careful."

"Will do, Hokage-sama"

Naruto watched Shikamaru's retreating back, gnawing at his lower lip as he desperately tried to push aside his feelings as a father and look at her as any other Hokage would have. She was a ninja and would be put at risk…but that didn't mean she still wasn't his little girl.

…..

Shikamaru had rallied his team as promised at dawn…despite some _very_ vocal complaints from a certain Inuzuka. Each member carried a pack of provisions and necessary supplies. He had claimed they all weighed equal amount and had handed the foliage green colored packs out to his two man squad.

_Yeah_…about that….he lied.

Konohana's pack weighed fifteen extra pounds than Kakato's. No, he didn't do it to spite the young girl, or to give the Inuzuka an advantage. He did it because she needed it. She needed to push her physical strength, since she was lacking in the department, and if Kakato had carried the pack it wouldn't have affected him. But, Shikamaru could see it affect her. The leaps she took forced her to use more chakra and loosen her choke hold of a control. For Kakato, he'd given him the lightest pack.

Why?

Because if he didn't control his chakra enough the moron shot off the branch and would over shoot the next, having to be caught by his loving sensei. It taught him to tighten his hold, after several whacks to the back of his head and after the first ten over jumps he did.

"Are we there _yet_!?"

"For the love of- Uzumaki! Shut him up!"

The loud thwack of her pack meeting his head resounded, soon followed by a howl of pain and a growl of anger. "Inuzuka! Zip it before you _accidently_ fall off a branch!"

"Hey! That was a threat!"

"You don't say?" Konohana snorted, rolling her blue eyes at the scowling Inuzuka. "I thought it was a suggestion."

"Uzumaki! You want to carry his bag too?!" Shikamaru snapped, rounding on the pair so fast that they nearly slipped off their branch.

She gulped dryly at her glaring sensei, flushing at her partner's snickers and grumbled, "No"

"Then both of you shut up!"

"Sensei-"

"Didn't I say shut u-"

WHAM!

Both Konohana and Kakato winced when their sensei jumped straight into a tree. Silently, the two glanced between each other, looking at the sensei sprawled across a thick branch on his back. A second later, their laughter boomed throughout the forest.

Shikamaru's eye twitched, glaring up at the pink sky, "I hate kids."

…

The rest of the journey went off without too much damage. Shikamaru avoided any more trees and his team managed to shut up. Well, he had assisted a little bit…you know threatening to make their deaths look like an accident proved to be quite effective. Finally, they were quiet long enough to reach the borders of the small village in record time. Even though, their arrival was less than welcome.

"Murderers!" An old woman screeched and another hard potato collided with Konohana's shoulder.

She flinched at the impact, but remained in step with their scowling sensei and her frowning teammate. His gaze locked on her thinning lips, "Ignore them Uzumaki and keep walking."

Konohana nodded silently, jerking when a cabbage bounced off her head and quite a few small children snarled profanities at her. Kakato watched the crowds forming along the borders of the dirt path they were taking and Chairomi barked whenever they would come to close. His gaze traveled beside him when he heard a small squeak escape Konohana.

The red remains of a busted tomato slid down her tightened cheek, her knuckles turning white on her grip on the straps.

"Sensei.."

Shikamaru grunted as a cucumber bounced off his head. "What?"

"Can we…change formation?"

The Nara's brown gaze snapped to the dog nin, brows raised, "Why?"

The boy's cheeks flushed and he cleared his throat loudly, scratching the back of his head. "Well…Uzumaki's getting hit a lot…and it's making her slow down so…"

"_You_ want to trade places with her?" Shikamaru's eyes snapped wide, almost stumbling over his own feet at the suggestion. His gaze traveled to the team's only female as another tomato collided with her thigh. "No"

The Inuzuka scowled, "But, why not!?"

"She's always going to be a girl, Inuzuka. People will always single her out as the weak link. That's why she needs to get thick skinned now."

"Then why can't we just-"

Shikamaru sighed at the boy, "That would only fuel their beliefs. Just keep walking. Uzumaki will be okay."

That didn't wipe the scowl from the boy's features when he caught sight of yet another vegetable hitting his teammate. With a small growl, he jerked his gaze forward, watching her carefully out of the corner of his eye. To his surprise, her eyes hardened over and she kept walking.

The bitterness in her scent made his nose wrinkle and he considered just letting it slide, but…

"Go back to that pit of demons!"

A rather thick scroll collided with the pinkette's skull, making her curse lowly, biting into her lower lip. He moved to grab her arm, but his sensei's firm hand on his shoulder stopped him. "I know it's hard," He muttered, "Choji and I didn't like it when people would pick on Ino because she was a girl, but you got to let her fight her own battles."

"I don't care it's just that-"

"She's a girl," Shikamaru smirked, "You'll learn really fast that kunoichi are harder to break then you think."

A sharp squeak sent both boys to a halt, gazing at the now drenched kunoichi. Her arms still rose above her head from where the dirtied water had fallen from, and eyes squeezed tight. A sharp scowl marred the Nara's lips, feeling his own anger building.

"Konohana!"

The bark was so sharp that it made her jump back, blue eyes wide, "Yes, Shikamaru sensei!"

He was so tempted to send her by the roof tops, out of harm's way, but the order froze on the tip of his tongue. Shikamaru felt his fierce glare soften slightly, exhaling loudly through his nose as he stared at the young kunoichi. She looked like a drowned, pink rat.

"Don't…Don't slow down."

The pinkette nodded solemnly and continued to trench on ahead, despite her now soggy cloths rubbing her awkwardly. Shikamaru threw a sharp glare up at the open window, where another bucket of water was ready to be thrown.

"Try it," He voiced, gaining the woman's attention with a jolt. "Just try it."

Kakato couldn't help but smirk at the woman jumping back, cursing his sensei as she slammed her window shut and her nose upturned. "What was that about letting her fight her own battles?"

"Shut up." He growled, pushing his student forward, "Keep moving, runt."

…..

They arrived to the merchant's, colorfully decorated courtesy of the _wonderful_ villagers. The shop was small and humble; it offered weapon sharpening, nonperishable supplies, and a variety in healing ointments and medical supplies. According to the charred sign it had at one point in time. Shikamaru admired the various workers nailing away, but the tell-tale sign of boards that had been broken away were still fresh.

"Ah, you must be the team from the leaf," A kind voice, called. Out of the small building stepped a man with greying hair and a kind smile, "I appreciate you coming." His eyes were clearly focusing on the remains of their trip through the village.

Shikamaru shrugged, "No problem, just tell us what to do."

…..

The kids were posted in front of the shop, more for symbolic purposes Shikamaru had stated. Symbolic being that everyone would see the symbol of the leaf on them. He helped out on the roof so that he would have a clear view of what was happening below.

Konohana remained tense, her eyes scanning the glaring crowd while Chairomi growled at anyone that approached too close. A smirk quirked her lips, "Good girl"

A passing woman scoffed, turning her nose up as she pulled along her son who smiled happily at the small puppy.

The pinkette propped her chin up on hand and glanced over at her sprawled out partner, "You look so intimidating right now," She deadpanned, signaling a growl.

"Chairomi's takin' care of it," He waved off with a yawn, "No one's going to be stupid enough to attack in broad daylight."

Blue eyes rolled, smiling warmly at the pacing pup, "Chairomi"

An ear perked up on the Husky pup, one of her eyes glancing at the pinkette from the corner. She watched as the female ninja pulled out a small dog treat from her pouch, and in a flash the dog's front paws were on her chest. Her tongue flapped happily up at the girl as she lapped the treat from her hand.

Konohana giggled, soothingly ruffling her hair, "Keep up the good work."

With one more little lick, the pup went back to patrol, serious as ever…much to the kunoichi's amusement. Kakato rose up enough to glare at his supposed ally, "Chairomi, quit associating with the enemy!"

Chairomi glanced at her master, snuffed, and then turned her attention forward. Kakato's jaw dropped and Konohana burst out in a fit of laughter.

"Chairomi, you little traitor!"

Shikamaru shook his head with a sigh, looking up at the hot sun beating down on him and the fellow workers. "Troublesome."

….

The next few days went without much of a hitch; they would work at day and take shifts patrolling at night. The merchant had believed that just the knowledge that ninjas were present would be enough to keep the trouble makers away.

"Why rebuild your shop here if it's probably going to be destroyed again?" Shikamaru questioned with a grunt around a mouth full of nails.

The old man had merely smiled, his eyes crinkling at the corners, "Plenty of ninja cross paths with this village on a regular basis. They need places like this when they're away from home with no way to restock."

The Nara only grunted in reply.

That night he took double shifts.

…

It had been their last day there; just a patrol at night and another team would be coming to replace them. So far, it seemed to Shikamaru that his team hadn't learned anything from the experience. They still fought and bickered, even if it was out in the open, and they still didn't value the other. The jonin was going to kill them if they didn't kill each other.

The three leaf shinobi sat outside; despite the looming hover of multiple angry looking clouds that shielded the natural light available. Konohana and Kakato squabbled a bit, not as much as usual, but enough that their sensei whacked them both upside the head.

"Ow!"

"Hey!"

Their sensei snorted, resting his weight back onto his palms. "Serves you two right. Shut up and pay attention." Brown eyes gazed at the surrounding roofs; his perch on the newly built one didn't waver.

Kakato rolled his slit like eyes and huffed a snort, "What's the big deal? No one's going to attack ninjas."

"Thinking like that will get you killed, Inuzuka." Shikamaru grumbled, directing a meaningful glare at the genin. "No one's above attacking an off guard ninja."

The Inuzuka grunted, crossing his arms over his chest, "I'd smell them-"

"The scent of rain's too heavy," Konohana chimed in, directing her sensei and teammate's attention. "It'd mess with their scents."

Shikamaru smirked, while Kakato's mouth flopped open like a fish out of water. The pinkette squirmed under her partner's intense stare, her cheeks pinkened, and body went rigid under his scrutiny.

"Listen to the lady," Shikamaru chuckled, smirking at the boy's outraged glare. "Use those ears of yours."

"I can smell just fine, what does _she_ know about dog nin anyway!?" He snarled, jabbing an accusing finger at the now scowling pinkette, her fingers fisting into her shorts.

A single blue eye twitched, a red vein now pulsating on her smooth forehead. Her lips thinned as she gritted out in a low tone, "I know if you keep yapping that loud, that you might as well put a big neon sign over our head's that says 'WE'RE HERE!"

The dog nin snorted at the now reddening kunoichi, "Like I said, no one's going to-"

In a blur, Shikamaru was in front of him, deflecting a flying shuriken with a kunai. Kakato's jaw dropped staring at the silver weapon that landed next to him. His sensei glared over his shoulder, "You were saying Inuzuka?"

Shikamaru's pinpoint accuracy located at least five figures on the flat topped roof in front of them, though only a hand few pulsated with uncontrolled chakra. "Crap, that was a warning," He grumbled, his gaze then directed at kunoichi, "Konohana"

She jumped at the commanding tone, "Yes, sensei?"

"Think you could manage to disarm them, without hurting them?"

Her eyebrows scrunched in confusion, "Sensei?"

Shikamaru growled as he deflected a wobbly kunai from hitting his students, his brown eyes narrowing into slits. "They're villagers that have picked up enough tricks from passing ninja to be a small threat." He managed to get a lock on the girl's gaze, "Don't hurt them, but disarm them."

Blue eyes darkened in understanding, bobbing her head in a nod as she pulled five shuriken from her pouch.

"Inuzuka, back her up, I'll be on your flank for back up." Shikamaru observed how the figures became fidgety and his lips thinned, "Watch each other's back got i-"

"Uzumaki!"

The sensei spun at his student's terrified cry and came face to face with a burly man. His arm was tightly coiled around the kunoichi's neck, a dinged up kunai pointed directly at her side, "Uzumaki? Hm, isn't that your Hokage's name?" His smirk revealed straight white teeth, "What a coincidence."

Shikamaru snarled; he had underestimated these villagers. His gaze flitted to the Inuzuka, features scrunched up in a warning snarl. "Just…" Brown eyes returned to the man, "She's just a little girl."

"A little girl that'll grow up to be a killer like you," The male spat.

A hesitant glance over his shoulder proved the other villagers still remained on the roof, and cursed under his breath. Anything he would do would start a riot, seems like peace keeping wasn't in the cards for tonight.

…..

"I'll give you all a warning," The shadow nin growled, licking his lips, "Let her go and return to your homes before this gets ugly."

The man snorted at the ninja's warning, rolling his dark eyes, "How sweet, but nah"

Shikamaru's sudden smirk made the man hesitate, "Alright then," His gaze went to the still girl in his arms, "Konohana! Kakato!"

In a poof of swirling white smoke, she was gone from his grip and Kakato had vanished from Shikamaru's side. The man's eyes widened into saucers, "What the-"

"Now!"

A large snarling brown dog lunged onto the roof from the sill below, pinning the man on his back. Eyes widened into saucers at the wolf like canine's sharp teeth as it snapped its jaws in warning when he attempted to get up; he could even feel its sharp claws tearing into the cloth of his shirt.

The cries of the villagers on the other roof caused all color to drain from the man's face, eyes widening. "Y-You killed them!"

"They're just knocked out," The shadow nin snorted, crossing his arms while the brown husky snapped it's jaws once more. A smile quirked his lips when a pink haired kunoichi landed next to him, "Good job, kiddo."

She grinned with a sense of accomplishment, bobbing her head once, and turned her attention back to the man underneath the monster. Shikamaru smirked lightly as the canine continued to toy with the villager, but sighed, "Kakato, Chairomi, back off."

The dog's fierce brown slits narrowed at the quaking human beneath them, still remembering the kunai being held at the kunoichi's side, and snapped their jaws just shy of his jugular. With reluctance, the creature stepped off the white male, his eyes wide, and fingers curled protectively around his throat as he stared at the dog.

"What- How?"

"They were both clones that I had them make before we went on patrol," The jonin informed smoothly, then smirked at the snarling dog, "And that would be the little puppy and runt that you saw us with."

The canine's muzzle curled back to reveal shiny white teeth, in what Konohana would have sworn looked like a smirk.

"She and one of my clones were posted on the roof that your buddies were on. While, he and his dog were posted below, awaiting my command." A smirk quirked the Nara's lips, "Doesn't take a genius to figure out you'd target what you thought would be the weakest link." His smirk only widened as the man turned even paler. "So I brought out the big dog."

At that the brown monster snorted a barking laugh.

The villager blubbered, still staring at the blue eyed kunoichi with wide eyes, the kunai falling helplessly on the roof with a clang. "B-But"

"Don't live under the delusion that ninjas' are idiotic killing machines, you baka," He grunted, casually shoving his hands into his pockets and narrowing his eyes into dark slits. "Now go home, before I decide to take offense that you just tried to attack my kids."

…..

As promised, the next morning a team of chunin arrived to take their place and was briefed on the situation. They adjusted security to meet the requirements and Shikamaru's two man squad went on their way. It was in the middle of their travel, leaping from branch to branch, that the Nara noticed an unusual silence permeating from the normally boisterous Inuzuka.

His dark brown gaze landed on the scowling boy, his glare turned downward to burn a hole into whatever branch he pushed off of. He sighed deeply and pulled back to be at the boy's flank.

"You've improved on you and Chairomi's combined transformation technique," Shikamaru supplied, noting the way Kakato's ears perked slightly, while the tiny puppy chirped her approval from his jacket. "You two did a good job."

Silently, Kakato nodded, "Thanks sensei, but…" His gaze went to the front to watch the kunoichi leading and then looked back at Shikamaru, clearly troubled by his own revelation, "They were really going to kill her, weren't they?"

The shadow manipulator's stern features became gentler at the boy's innocent tone, his slit like eyes wide with disbelief. It was as if he thought that would have never happen. His reaction the night prior though, had proven Shikamaru's creeping suspicions.

They were still kids. Kids that hadn't realized what they got themselves into.

Shikamaru's own hardened gaze went forward to the pinkette, her braid flying with her movements, and cleared his tight throat, "Yeah, they would have."

The dog nin sobered at his sensei's words, innocence and naivety shattering under the harsh truth. "She'll always be seen as a target….even when we're older…"

"That's the way it is." The shinobi offered with a shrug, "Kunoichi's are targeted more because of their gender."

Kakato's saddened gaze went back to the kunoichi's oblivious back, black eyes darkening in resolve. "I won't let her die, sensei."

Shikamaru jerked in surprise, snapping his attention back to his seemingly older pupil.

"I still can't stand her." He scowled fiercely, but it softened at the corners of his lips, "But, that doesn't mean I want her to…" A flush crept up the boy's neck, grunting in embarrassment.

Looking at his student in disbelief, Shikamaru's shock softened into a well-worn smirk of understanding. He turned his attention back to the front and decided that he had done the right thing by bringing them on this mission. It was only a taste of the dangers of being a ninja, but for the time it was enough for them to grow.


	6. Separate: Age 13

**Author'e Note: Yet another chapter, which as of right now is my favorite (: Konohana's talent is finally revealed! I researched as much as I could on the type of ninja she is to make it accurate, it didn't give me too much to work with so I got creative. I also wanted her to be something not completely expected, so I hope you guys enjoy this (:**

**Thank you all for the reviews/alerts/ favorites! (:**

* * *

**Separate****: Age 13**

…

"You see those trees?" Shikamaru gestured, jabbing a thumb over his shoulder. "Run up them."

Kakato scowled and Konohana's brows furrowed in concentration. The two had grown a little since they were put on Team Ten and dubbed a squad. The Uzumaki heiress had started getting her growth spurts, much to Kakato's distain, and now stood a whole two inches taller than her teammate. Kakato's body had hardened more with continual training, resulting in his features to become sharper and less round. Chairomi had even hit her own little growth spurt, now coming up to just below Kakato's knees.

Silently, Kakato raised his hand and his sensei groaned, "Yes, Inuzuka?"

"What do we get if we make it to the top?"

Shikamaru's expression fell flat at the dog nin's cocky question and stared incredulously at the two smirking genin. "Are you serious?"

The Inuzuka boy snorted loudly, crossing his arms casually behind his head with a signature fanged smile, "I don't know about pinky," Said girl snarled and fixed him with a glare, which went ignored, "But, if I'm going to be running up and down a tree all day…"

"You two are a pain."

"And you're an old man, what's new?" The genin grinned at his sensei's twitching eye and tightening jaw.

The jonin turned to his saving grace, the pink kunoichi, who had toned down a bit in the past year. She took commands without any back talk and generally didn't question why he had them do the things he did, while reeling in her over bearing partner.

He arched a brow in question at the female, but the corner of her lips twitched up into a smirk and chuckled, "I agree with the mutt, for once."

"You lazy slackers-"

Konohana snorted in a very un-lady like fashion and rested her hands on firmly on her small hips, "You're one to talk. We had to pull you out of a tree the other day, because you fell asleep upside down."

"That was a test."

"Bull crap," The Uzumaki heiress scowled, which unnerved the shadow manipulator with a small shiver, because it greatly resembled Kakato's. "You fell asleep and were too lazy to get up to get your-"

"Fine! Fine! Winner gets tomorrow off practice." He snarled, a vein pulsating dangerously on his forehead as he pointed stiffly to the two trees, "Now move it!"

His 'angelic' students smirked at the other, then took off in a dash toward their targets and began their chakra infused climb.

"I liked them better when they fought each other and not me." Shikamaru grumbled under his breath, eyeing the pair's progression.

Kakato made it to the middle of the tree's length when he began to slide backward on his heels, lashing out with his kunai to mark the bark, and flipped onto his feet with stiffness in his movements.

"Still too stiff maneuvering in the air," He noted to himself and watched the pinkette only make it a quarter of the way up before she had to flip to land onto her feet. Her knees bent more naturally with the movement, than her partner's, but…. "Still needs to work on her control."

Watching the rhythmic dance of them climbing, marking their spot, and then flipping back onto the ground became a bore after the first hour. So, he took it upon himself to recline against a nice shade tree to watch the show. Much to the sensei's amusement, they got along in their own unique way most of the time. They didn't throw each other under the blade, or try to maim one another during sparring matches.

The change had all begun after their first C rank mission and after Kakato came to the realization of what could happen to his partner if they didn't watch each other's back.

"_I won't let her die, sensei."_

A small smirk graced the Nara's lips at the Inuzuka's proclamation. So far, he had kept his word.

"Ugh!"

Shikamaru's gaze snapped up at the pain filled grunt and scowled as he saw Kakato land on his ankle awkwardly. He was ready to chew him out for not listening to him about maneuvering, but froze. In a graceful arch, the pinkette flipped through the air and landed in a crouch next to her scowling partner. Without even a teasing remark, she pulled out a roll of white medical tape from her pouch and handed it to him calmly.

"Wrap it up and it won't hurt so much when you land." She informed at his confused stare. "Wrap it around your ankle three times and make it tight as you can." Konohana didn't utter another word as she tossed him the tape and launched herself back up the tree.

Kakato stared at the tape momentarily, then back at the kunoichi, before snorting with a small amount of flush creeping up his neck. "Stupid pinky"

Shikamaru smirked; a year ago she wouldn't have even paused to look at him. "Something's do change."

…

After watching the routine ritual of the genin's practice, their sensei submitted to sleep. Soft snores escaped him, ears still trained on the thunking of the kids' feet hitting the bark in bounds and on their labored breathing. He twitched though at the new presence that stood before him.

"What do you want, you troublesome woman?" He grumbled, not even cracking an eye open.

"Sleeping on the job now, slacker?" A cold tinted feminine voice chuckled, softening a tad bit at the end.

With a small grumble in his chest, Shikamaru cracked his eyes open to stare up at his wife. She stood in her traditional jonin garb, the symbol of the sand proudly wrapped around her upper arm and the symbol of the leaf on her forehead. Her blonde hair swayed a bit in the breeze as her emerald eyes glinted with humor.

"The brats are fine."

Temari smirked at the label, gazing over at the two genin, "I can see that, but the one with pink hair stopped when I appeared."

At that Shikamaru arched an eyebrow, "She noticed you?"

"I wasn't trying all that hard to hide myself, but she did. The other one didn't even slow down," She snorted, rolling her eyes, "Boys" Slowly, her blonde brows raised, "So you gonna tell me who they are? You've trained them for a year and haven't even introduced them to you dear, sweet-"

"Bull crap," He smirked, noting her own sharp smirk, "You already know whose kids they are. It's not hard to figure out and you've been lurking around for a few hours so.."

Temari stiffened with a scowl at her husband, planting her hands on her hips, "So that's Uzumaki's brat?"

"Give the lady a prize."

"Shut it, Nara."

"You asked troublesome woman."

She snorted a laugh, eyes landing back on the hesitating pinkette. She would pause a few extra seconds after landing to stare at the jonin woman, before launching herself back into training. "She's got potential," The kunoichi allowed, "More observant than most."

"The second's Inuzuka's," The shadow nin informed, watching his wife roll her eyes.

"Not like the dog and the markings are dead giveaways or anything." She ignored her husband's small scowl, to observe the boy land on his ankle at an off angle. "His maneuvering is crap, but he's got just as much potential as the girl."

The Nara rolled his brown eyes up to stare at the leaves above him, "You're not telling me anything new woman. Make yourself useful if you're sticking around and be a fresh set of eyes." He fixed her with a bored stare, "I've been watching them for a year now. You'll probably pick up on something I'm not."

She didn't seem to be listening, her trained stare focusing on the two genin's movements, but Shikamaru knew she heard him. Emerald eyes followed the pair, taking in their mannerism and their twitches. They were a bit behind the normal genin level, but she figured that's why her husband drilled them.

"That boy will be a good tracker." She stated suddenly, "He's monitoring that girl like a hawk."

"All Inuzuka's are good trackers, Temari," He sighed, "They practically make up the entire tracking team."

The kunoichi snorted, "I'm aware of that." She brushed the comment off with a shrug and continued, "He'd also good at assassination."

The Nara stiffened, "His sense of smell-"

"Doesn't matter, the way he moves in stiff movements shows he moves as little as possible to not draw attention to himself."

Shikamaru's eyebrow arched, taking it into consideration, and nodded. "Don't see why not."

"The girl..," Her eyebrows furrowed slightly when the pinkette glanced at her again. "Her reactions are….different." It was the only word that seemed to fit. "They're different than I would expect from a genin…"

"She's got aim and observation, the rest is a working progress," The sensei informed, "Her ninjutsu has improved after she lessened her hold a bit, but it's still nothing to gawk at."

The way Temari's eyes snapped to him, made his eyebrows fly up onto his forehead. "How good is her observation?"

"She noticed you."

The sand nin's forehead scrunched up further, "And her control is…too tight? Not too loose?"

"She's over controlling of her chakra, like she's afraid of what might happen if she lets any slip out. It's loosened some now that she's not as nervous, but still sucks."

The look that overtook his wife's features definitely intrigued the Nara, her face wiped clean of emotion as she took in everything handed to her and then had a small smirk on her lips. "You know what happens when you don't have enough control…"

"Yeah, you're practically a flashing beacon. What of it?"

Temari's gaze followed the girl flip back onto her feet, a scary looking smirk crossing her lips as she chuckled under her breath. "Who would have thought?"

"Oi, woman, ya gonna tell me you're revelation or not?" He growled, pushing himself to his feet and crossed his arms over his chest.

She glanced at him in a taunting manner, her smirk never wavering, "Shikamaru, what types of ninjas have problems with having too tight of a hold on their chakra?"

His eyebrows furrowed in thought, going through a mental list of candidates, but kept coming up with a blank. "What are you-"

"Think about it, you baka." Temari sighed, running a palm over her features. "What kind of ninja is observant, has good aim, issues with too tight of a control of their chakra, _and_ can predict an attack before it strikes."

It hit him like a mountain had crashed over him, and judging by the cackling laugh Temari let out, it definitely showed on his face. How had he not connected the dots on this one? "You got to be kidding me."

"Nope," She chuckled, a glint in her green eyes, "Who would have thought Uzumaki's kid would be a sensor ninja?"

….

A sensor ninja. That didn't belong in the same sentence as Uzumaki's kid. It sounded wrong to Shikamaru, but he couldn't deny the signature traits that she held. It matched almost perfectly with the profile of a sensor. As he watched the pinkette move, he watched in a different light. Her instinct to hold in her chakra went hand in hand with not wanting to be detected.

Temari had finally figured out the kid's talent.

"How the crap am I supposed to train that?" He groaned in irritation.

The kunoichi shrugged, "I don't see the big deal. It doesn't change that she needs basic training.."

"No," He snapped, earning a scowl in return, "But, I can't teach her what a sensor needs to learn. Like how not to get stabbed in the back when she's trying to sense someone! That's a huge hole in a sensor's abilities. A hole that will get her killed if she's not taught how to cover it."

Shikamaru could still remember Kakato's own observation that should have thrown up red flags…

"_She hasn't done any ninjutsu yet, and…um…she's vulnerable when she tries to sense stuff."_

Temari's lips tightened and emerald eyes narrowed in serious thought. Her fingers rapped against her arm, watching the girl launch back up the tree and flip back off not long after. "I'll teach her."

"What?"

She rolled her eyes and looked at her husband's widened eyes, "I'll teach the brat. Every sensor's technique differs, but I can at the least teach her how not to get killed."

…..

Konohana glanced with clear confusion between her stoic sensei and his equally emotionless wife. Her pink eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "What's a sensor ninja?"

Temari snorted, "How does that not surprise me?"

Shikamaru grumbled under his breath, and then turned to his student. "It's a ninja that's basically built to sense other ninja's attacks and chakras. Self-explanatory, Uzumaki"

"What does that have to do with-"

"Listen pinky," The blonde kunoichi grunted, hands falling to rest on her hips. "You've got the talent to be a sensor. Now, either you can ignore it and suck, or you can train your skill and actually be a decent ninja."

The girl's blue gaze went back, ever faithfully, to her sensei. She practically radiated helplessness that had Temari scowling, and the girl swallowing, "How do I train to be a-"

"I'll be training you." Temari interjected firmly, "If you decide you want to be a sensor, you're training will be handed over to me for two years and we'll be training in Suna."

"Two years in Suna?!"

"What did you think it'd happen overnight?!" The woman snorted, rolling her eyes upward, "I'm starting to see a family resemblance coming out."

Shikamaru grunted at the now scowling girls and rubbed his forehead with his palm. "Konohana," The girl looked back hopefully at him, "I can't teach you this." Her expression fell almost instantly at his words, "Temari can. She can teach you what you need to know to progress in your training."

The look on the pinkette's face said she wanted anything but that. Her teeth gnawed into her bottom lip, glancing up at the expectant blonde's gaze. Blue steeled against the challenging green, "When do we start?"

A small smirk quirked the sand nin's lips, "Huh, kid's gotta a back bone after all." Her arms crossed and grinned, "Be ready to have it broken."

At her words Konohana faltered, turning a faint shade of white and Shikamaru groaned up at the sky.

…

"WHAT?!"

Konohana rolled her eyes at her teammate's outburst, but ebbed away as he fumed. Shikamaru's features didn't move in the slightest, arching a brow at the Inuzuka, "You heard me. You and Uzumaki are going to be training separately for two years. No missions, until after the Chunin exams."

The spiky haired male spun on the girl, making her take a step back at the action. "You're leavin' me out to dry?!"

"I'm-"

"I know what you're doing?!" He snarled harshly, leaning in so close she could actually feel his hot breath wash over her pinkened features. "You've finally decided to ditch me!"

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are!" He growled at the hard glint of her eyes at the accusation, "Don't give me that look!"

Temari glanced at the pulsating vein on his forehead and smirked at her husband's reddening neck. "You okay there, Nara?"

He twitched at the taunting tone, before snarling under his breath. "I change my mind. They're less annoying when they're fighting with me."

…

When Shikamaru finally managed to break up the argument, even though it had taken about ten minutes and several clones to get them to stop trying to fight with the other, and gave the still growling boy a hard glare. "She's not abandoning you. She'll come back."

Kakato snorted, glancing over to the area where Temari had hauled his partner for her own special talk. "I don't care what she does." He met his sensei's brown eyes with his black and scowled, "I can't go on missions for two years-"

"I'm pulling Shikami from her team for training a few days a week. She'll be your substitute partner those days." He informed swiftly, "Her sensei complied as long as it doesn't interfere with her team's missions."

That didn't seem to lessen the hardened edge to his lips, or the glint in his eyes that made the Nara weary. The whole ordeal had made his sensei to view a new side to the Inuzuka. He would have never guessed he was insecure about Konohana leaving the team.

"What's wrong now?"

"Nothing," Kakato grumbled, returning his gaze to Chairomi by his side. "It'll just be different."

The boy didn't have to say anything else, because he could already tell what he was thinking.

Shikami wasn't Konohana.

"I know," Shikamaru sighed, and ruffled the boy's brown spikes out of their small holder, "But she _will_ come back. I promise."

…

Naruto and Sakura gazed over their child's instructor and his wife, both equally shocked at the proposition lain before them. Shikamaru was still rubbing the back of his neck and Temari was still smiling that overly sweet, false smile that was purely put on for show. The pink medic nin glanced over at her husband, who had the remains of shock in his big blue eyes. So, seeing as her husband was miraculously rendered speechless, Sakura stepped in.

"Just to make sure I got this right," She began crisply, breaking the choking silence. Her pink eyebrow arched as she directed all her attention to the two jonin in front of her, "You," she pointed to Temari, "Want to take my daughter to Suna for two years to train to be a sensor ninja, and come back just a week before the Chunin Exams."

Shikamaru flinched slightly, "Well when you put it like that-"

"Exactly," His wife stepped in, false smile dropped as she addressed the Hokage's wife.

"Why Suna?"

"I'm more familiar with the terrain and it would give me an upper edge in case word gets out that the Hokage's daughter is out and about." The blonde shrugged, her arms crossing over her chest.

The pinkette's eyebrows remained furrowed for a short moment, digesting the information. It was with a sigh that she deflated her tense shoulders and nodded, "I give my consent."

"I don't!" Naruto squawked, "Two years?!"

Green eyes narrowed, "I recall someone else being gone for that long." Sakura's eyebrows arched at his challenging expression and smirked, "Besides, do you really think the Kazekage or his _sister_ would allow something to harm her while in his land?"

The blonde Hokage's mouth snapped shut with a grunt at the statement. It practically challenged the faith he had in Gaara's ability as a ruler, and Sakura had known it when she said it.

Glaring silently at his desk that was littered with papers, he grunted, meeting the kunoichi's green eyes, "Fine, she can go." His blue eyes held a hard tinged, "Only two years, no more than that."

…..

Konohana's feet swung back and forth, while she twisted a bit in her seat. She had come to Ichiraku's one more time, since her new sensei Temari had insisted on leaving tomorrow. The girl's blue eyes took in the cozy food stand, fond memories of having lunches with her father played in her head, as her gaze saddened.

It would be a long time before she would be here again.

But, her musing halted when she sensed a familiar presence, snapping her head to the side to see Kakato taking a seat next to her. His shoulders remained stiff and eyes downcast as she stared openly at him. They had gotten along more in the year and fought less. They watched the others back during missions and every so often they would lend a helping hand in learning new techniques.

Even though he made it clear to her that she wasn't welcome to give advice when he practiced his clan's techniques.

"Quit gawking pinky," He grumbled, irritably, flashing his eyes to meet hers, before staring at the counter once again. "I was just hungry."

"So, you came here even though you knew I'd be here?"

Her question bristled him, giving the pinkette a scowl, "What?! I'm not good enough to-"

"I didn't say that," She snapped, then groaned, gazing at her hands on the counter's surface. "You just usually avoid wherever I choose to eat."

The male didn't retaliate, because they both knew it was true. The pact they made nearly a year ago cemented her belief. So, Kakato grumbled again, watching as a bowl of steaming ramen was placed before the girl and she smiled at the cook, before she dug in.

They sat in silence, him not bothering to order anything and her not voicing any more protests to his company. It was comfortable enough for them, being used to the other's constant presence from training together. But, the question still hung in the air.

What did he want?

The Inuzuka looked at Chairomi, who was looking up at him with big brown eyes. Her gaze then turned to the pinkette, then back to him. Kakato grunted, scratching the back of his neck, "When are you leaving tomorrow?"

"An hour before the sun rises," She replied with a slurp of her noodles. "Temari sensei said it would be safer."

It still stumped Kakato at how oblivious the girl was to her status as the Hokage's daughter. She still snapped at the title, claiming it wasn't her name, but he didn't think she grasped the full meaning.

That she was a target because of it.

"Why?" Konohana puzzled, eyebrows scrunched.

"What? I can't see my teammate off?"

Shock washed over her features, her hands pausing in lifting another group of noodles to her mouth. "Huh?"

The male growled, hopping off his stool and turned to leave, "I'm seeing you off pinky. So I don't want you tryin' to slit my throat when I get there."

He didn't bother to wait around for a retort and she was too stunned to go after him.

…..

Just as expected, there waiting at the gates, under the cover of the still pitch black sky was Shikamaru, Shikami, Naruto, and Sakura. Shikamaru grunted as he asked his wife if she had enough weapons, and she snorted, jabbing a thumb at her giant iron fan strapped across her back.

Konohana watched as the husband and wife interacted, but wasn't surprised when her sensei kissed Temari on the lips shortly and grumbled, "Watch your backs."

"Who do you think you're talkin' to here?" She smirked, but the gleam in her emerald eyes gave away the soft nature of the retort. Her gaze turned to the blonde genin next to her father, expression rather neutral, "Can I get a hug?"

She didn't need to be told twice, throwing her arms around the kunoichi, and hugging her tightly. Temari's smile softened, rubbing the girl's back, "Keep your Dad in line, while I'm gone."

The genin snorted and pulled back enough so that her mother could sweep over her features once more. Dirty blonde hair pulled into a bun, medium hued skin, and her father's dark brown eyes held the same lazy nature that had her smirking. She placed a small kiss on the girl's forehead, "I'll be back before you know it."

Shikami nodded once, blinking her eyes a bit, before fixing the pinkette with a small glare. She was the reason after all that her mother would be gone for two years.

Konohana's attention got jerked back to her own mother's wobbly smile and open arms, and didn't think twice about jumping into them just as Shikami had Temari's.

"You'll do great," Sakura murmured into her ear, playing with the loose end of the girl's braid. "Do what Temari says and come home to us soon baby girl."

Konohana nodded once, blue eyes stinging with building tears as her mother kissed her forehead. Then, her dad snatched her up into his arms, holding her off the ground as he squeezed her around the waist.

Naruto smiled at his daughter's return embrace and sighed, "I'll be expecting you to give me a run for my money." Konohana chuckled at his jab as he kissed her cheek and set her back on her feet.

"Ready to go?"

The pinkette turned to her new sensei, looking at her expectantly. Konohana did a short sweep of the area, her shoulders slumping slightly, and nodded.

Just as they turned to leave though…

"Hold it right there, pinky!"

She whipped around just in time to see a panting Inuzuka and Chairomi land before her. Both looked half tussled and clearly tired as the boy righted himself, groaning, "Geez, tryin' to bolt before I could get here."

Her growl just made him smirk, "Maybe you need a few extra hours-"

"Shut up, mutt!"

Slit like eyes rolled in clear amusement, reaching out his palm expectedly to the girl. She stared at the offered hand in confusion, before grasping it and squeezed. "Come back in one piece, I can't get another partner if you croak."

A cold object pressed into her palm, his hand curling her fingers over it, and then took off without another word. Chairomi gave the same hand a small lick, before she followed after her master, leaving the Uzumaki confused.

"Come on! I don't have all day!"

Konohana jumped at the growl and leapt after her sensei, waving over her shoulder once at her sensei and parents as she took off into the trees. But, she nearly rammed into her sensei when she jolted to a stop on a branch, spinning around to furrow her eyebrows, her gaze locked on the girl's closed hand. It pulsed with a foreign chakra signature and sent Temari lunging forward.

"What the crap are you carrying?!" She pried the girl's hand open and paused.

Lying in the palm of her smaller hand was a glinting silver chain with a small, clear, tear drop shaped charm dangling from it. It pulsated with the boy's chakra signature and made Temari smirk at the girl's obvious puzzlement, and made her grin at her revelation as to what it was.

"That kid's smarter than I thought," The kunoichi chuckled, taking it from the girl to fasten it around the pinkette's neck.

"What is it?"

Temari snorted, fastening the silver clip, "He stored a small amount of his chakra into it. It's designed hide your chakra signature with his. Its common practice within his clan to fool sensors and some trackers, I hear." The sand nin ran her finger over the glass ornament, smirking, "Pretty smart if you ask me."

Not another word left the female, turning to return to taking the lead. Konohana jolted back to attention after pondering, leaping after her new sensei with a small smirk on her pink lips and her fingers curled protectively around the necklace.

"Stupid mutt"

* * *

**Author's Note:****Now, should I do what the manga did and jump ahead two years, or actually write them out?**

**Also, I know Temari's not classified as a sensor, but from what I've read on her it's hinted at. And yeah, I know the necklace thing isn't a Inuzuka trade, but it plays an important role later on.**


	7. Kakato: Age 13: Part 2

**Author's Note: Sorry for this one for taking a bit of time, but I was having a difficult deciding just what exactly should happen to Kakato during his part of the time skip. All well, problem solved now (: **

**Hope you guys enjoy this .**

* * *

**Age 13: Part 2**

**Kakato**

…**.**

"This is sort of pathetic, ya know," Shikamaru yawned lazily, stretching his arms above his head, until he heard a satisfying pop. He cocked an eyebrow at the tousle going on before him and smirked, "You got whooped by a girl, Inuzuka."

Kakato growled from his position on the ground. Currently, a yawning blonde girl was sitting idly on his back, examining her dirt free nails. Chairomi was hog tied beside him, snapping at the shadow manipulation female uselessly.

The dog nin grumbled into the dirt, rolling his head to the side so that he could fix his slit like black eyes on his amused sensei. "What have you been feedin' this chick!?"

WHACK!

"I'll pretend you just didn't insinuate that I'm fat." She snorted as she situated herself more comfortably on his back. "Am I done now, dad? This is troublesome."

"I'm right here you know!" Kakato grunted, propping his head up onto his dirty hand. Chairomi writhed in front of him in her restraints, "You're useless."

The brown Husky froze just long enough to snarl menacingly at her master, baring all her teeth, before huffing and turning her head away in what he could only describe as a pout. The Inuzuka smirked smugly at the pup, turning his attention to his sensei that rolled his eyes at his daughter's antics.

Shikamaru scratched the back of his neck with a sigh, "I don't see why not. Just be back at home before sunset."

The Nara heiress bobbed her head in agreement, jumping off the boy with a bounce, and began to stroll off the crater filled training field as she dusted remnants of dirt from her light green clothing. Kakato didn't budge until he saw her blonde bun disappear from sight, and then rolled onto his back to glare up at the blue sky.

"You saw nothing." Was all he grunted, throwing his arm over his eyes in despair.

That whole experience was nothing short of completely humiliating.

His sensei's eyes rolled at the boys theatrics, but he couldn't help the small chuckle that rattled his chest. "My thirteen year old daughter just pinned you in-"

"I just didn't want to hurt her!"

"Yeah, and Chairomi tangled herself up in that rope," The Nara snorted, ignoring the boy's snarl. "You're way behind. She didn't even use ninjutsu."

Color flooded the male's cheeks at the reminder and scowled at the still chuckling man that was supposedly his sensei. "She's faster then she looks."

Shikamaru ignored the defensive comment and instead took to rubbing the back of his neck in thought. It seemed like hours before Kakato heard the silence broken by his sensei's rough edged tone, "Tenten's taught her well obviously. But, that doesn't excuse your poor performance and pathetic observation."

The genin boy cringed at the statement, knowing that he had done just what he was accused of. He was good in taijutsu, but that girl had moved so fast and before he knew it he was on the ground with her knee between his shoulder blades and a kunai to his throat. Chairomi was disposed of with a clone, but he would admit he had been proud of her when she fought against her attacker.

All at once, he deflated and pushed himself up with the last shred of Inuzuka dignity within him. His slit eyes found his sensei's features, "Help me become stronger then."

Shikamaru smirked, shoving his hands into his pockets at the glint in his student's gaze. No sarcasm was in the statement. "I plan on doing just that Inuzuka." In one movement, his sensei pulled a small square of plain paper from his pocket and held it out between two fingers, "Are you familiar with nature transformation?"

Kakato gritted his teeth, fighting back the retort on the tip of his tongue. His sensei arched a brow at his student's tightened jaw and watched him turn away from the parchment with tell-tale stubbornness, "I don't need that."

"Oh really," Shikamaru snorted, "Because just a few seconds ago my daughter had you at her mercy. You asked for my help and I'm giving it. Take it or leave it."

"I don't need a cheap trick like element jutsus to win a fight!" He snapped, digging his fingers into the earth around him and squeezing his eyes shut, "I'll win with my clan's techniques."

Shikamaru's brows furrowed at the outburst, grunting as he noticed his student's shoulders quiver. Kakato was stubborn and held his family name to high standards; Shikamaru understood the honor that went along with your clan and its techniques. But, not every ninja fills the mold that their clan sets.

But, with a sigh he shoved the parchment back into his pocket, "Fine, have it your way. It's too advanced for you right now anyway." Kakato's ears perked at the remark, cracking his eyes open to stare at his sensei incredulously, "But, when you're whining later about cheap tricks remember to say I was right."

At that the Inuzuka snorted, flipping his kunai holster open and pulled one from within its confines. In a smooth slash, he freed Chairomi and smirked up at his sensei, "We'll see."

….

A few weeks later it was a warm and pleasant day to be out and about the village hidden in the leaves. The bright sun shone down upon the buildings, heating everything its rays touched. Children were out laughing in the streets as they played various games, parents shopping in the markets, and villagers visited their favorite food stands rather than being indoors. Through the eyes of anybody, it was a good day over all that brought many smiles to many faces.

Kakato remained scowling as he hung upside down on a tree branch, ignoring Chairomi's worried barks from below. He was bored and annoyed. Not a very good combination for an Inuzuka. His sensei had finished up training with him for the day and began his lessons with his daughter, leaving him without a thing to do. He didn't have an annoying partner to bug, since she had been in Suna for a good month.

He didn't have anyone else.

Back at the Academy, he hadn't been concerned with being liked and didn't bother socializing with anyone other than Chairomi. Obviously, she didn't count. His mind had been dead set on surpassing his older sister, making a name for himself without the use of Byakugan.

Chairomi snarled, pawing at the trunk with irritation. And he continued to ignore the ninken and she was beginning to growl up at her master, teeth bared and all. Kakato never saw it coming, until she had already leapt up, snatching his jacket with her teeth, and yanked him down from the tree.

"Ow!" He howled, rubbing the new knot on his skull and glared at the still growling female. "What?! What is it?!"

Kakato's eye twitched when his dog rolled her eyes, actually rolled her eyes at him, and turned his cheek with her wet nose. His eyebrow arched at the sight of a genin his own age, hesitantly standing a few feet off, scratching the back of his neck. The boy had shaggy brown hair that stood up at odd angles and blue eyes that refused to meet his slit like black ones.

Chairomi huffed her satisfaction at his dumbfounded expression.

How hadn't he noticed him?

"Who the crap are you?"

The genin smiled, "Um, Inoichi Akimichi we graduated from the Academy together."

Kakato tilted his head with recognition, "Oh yeah, you have a sister, right?"

"Unfortunately," The brunette snorted, shoving his hands into his pockets.

"Well, waya want?! I was in the middle of-"

"Hanging from the tree like a monkey?" Inoichi smirked, making the Inuzuka scowl, "Yeah, I noticed."

The dog nin growled, rising to his feet at the cocky look on his fellow ninja's features, and narrowed his eyes in challenge. "What. Do. You. Want?"

Inoichi shrugged his shoulders causally, seeming unfazed, "You wanna hang out?"

At his innocent suggestion, all emotion slipped from Kakato's face, raising an eyebrow neutrally at the still smirking Akimichi. "Seriously?"

"Why not? My team ditched me for some," His eyes rolled as he put in air quotations, "Girl time. And your partner is out in Suna."

Kakato glanced at Chairomi. She was staring at the intruder suspiciously, taking him in with her brown eyes, and even took a step forward that caused Inoichi to take one back in surprise. The female ignored the male's jumpiness as she nudged his leg with her nose and sniffed him cautiously.

"What is he doing?" Inoichi cocked a brow and jumped when the dog snarled loudly at him.

Kakato snickered as Chairomi's lip curled backward and the hair on her back raised in a threat, suddenly the Akimichi wasn't looking all too confident as the dog snapped her jaws loudly. "She, Chairomi's a she."

Inoichi raised his hands up in surrender when the ninken took another step toward him, his face paled slightly, "Alright, alright, sorry _girl_."

Chairomi still eyed him darkly, relaxing her muzzle to snort and glance at Kakato over her shoulder. He was still smirking in amusement and shook his head at his partner, before refocusing his attention on the traumatized Inoichi. "She doesn't like it when people call her a 'he'."

"Didn't notice" Was his dry reply.

"She's touchy," Kakato shrugged.

Inoichi snorted and smirked, "What girl isn't?"

And that is how Inoichi Akimichi and Kakato Inuzuka became friends. And also, how they ended up 'bonding' in a tree for the rest of the day, while a 'touchy' female Husky circled below. Just waiting for one of them to dare come down so she could show them just how 'touchy' she could be.

Inoichi threw Kakato a dull look as he shivered slightly from the night's cool breeze. "This isn't what I meant by 'hanging out'."

"Chairomi must have heard you wrong," Was all the Inuzuka offered, turning his head to watch the female look up at him.

"I didn't think canine partners would turn on their masters."

Kakato grumbled under his breath, "She's special."

Down below Chairomi snorted a laugh.

…

It was well into the early hours of the morning, the sun's rays still hadn't rose over the horizon to shine upon the village. Kakato and Inoichi were well aware of this fact, since they were still stuck in that wonderful tree. The two boys groaned as once again when they tried to climb down, the brown Husky snapped at their heels and sent them scrambling back up the tree.

"She's persistent," Inoichi growled, eyebrow twitching as he glanced at the reclining Inuzuka. "Can't you control her?"

Kakato gave him a dead panned expression, "If I could control her do you think I'd still be in this tree?"

The Akimichi deflated, "But-"

"She listens to me, but when she gets ticked off _at_ me I might as well be an enemy ninja." The dog nin shrugged. "Eventually someone will come looking for us…I hope."

Inoichi's eyes snapped open as sudden fear gripped him, "Aw, crap! My Mom's gonna kill me for missing curfew!"

"Moms are scary."

"Why the crap are you so calm about this!? Your friggin dog is trying to kill us and if she don't our Moms will!"

Kakato smirked, "Not if my Dad figures out what's going on."

That cued Inoichi's own dead pan. He stared at the Inuzuka incredulously and lifted a brow, "This has happened before?"

"Yep"

"What kind of dog nin are you if your own dog won't listen to you!?" He snapped, making Kakato snarl as he sat up and glared at the boy.

"I can control her!"

"It shows! Why don't ya try to climb down again?!"

At this point both of the boys were sneering at the other, ready to strangle each other. Their eyes were narrowed and Kakato had his fangs bared at the Akimichi. It seemed they were destined to kill one another before help could rescue them, when a familiar scent made the Inuzuka suddenly glance to see his father and Akamaru.

Inoichi followed his line of sight and groaned in relief, "Thank you!"

Kiba grumbled irritably, stopping at the base of the tree and looked up at the two genin. The bags under his eyes made it perfectly clear that he was missing precious sleep. Without a word he looked at the still pacing female and back up to his son, "Again?"

"Yep, sorry Dad. Oh, and this Inoichi Akimichi," His son introduced as though this was perfectly natural, and then pointed to the chunky boy, "It's his fault."

"Did you say this was my fault?!"

"He has bad hearing," Kakato stated, straight faced while Inoichi looked ready to strangle him.

Kiba ran a hand roughly over his features, grumbling, "Why did I want a boy?"

"I heard that!"

The older Inuzuka growled, glancing with narrow eyes at Chairomi and then at Akamaru. His ninken looked entertained, much to his chagrin. "Akamaru," The dog straightened, "Pin 'er"

In a flash of white, he had Chairomi pinned beneath him, growling in a threat whenever she would try to snap at him in defense. She was barely even half his size and proved to not be a threat.

"Okay boys, get down here." Kiba sighed, motioning with his hand, "She's not gonna get you."

They hesitated for a moment, before sliding down the tree. No sooner did their feet safely touch the ground did the two shoot behind Kiba, staring warily around him at the still pinned Chairomi. The older Inuzuka grumbled under his breath and whistled.

Akamaru's ears perked at the familiar pitch and faithfully went to Kiba's side, brushing against his partner's leg and licked Kakato on the cheek in greeting.

"_That's_ how a sane ninken acts," Kiba snorted, pointing to the rising female, "She's nuts."

Chairomi's lip curled backward, ready to growl at the man, only for Akamaru to snarl in warning. He stepped forward snapping his jaws at the female pup, making her step back with a whimper.

Kakato stiffened as the older dog reprimanded the pup with a nip on her nose and returned to Kiba's side without another glance backward.

"I'm taking Inoichi home," His father voiced, "You collect your pup and be back at the house, before your Mom comes after you." With a dramatic groan, he ran a hand over his face, "I'm already gonna get an earful from Ino and I don't want another one from your Mother."

Kakato nodded silently, stepping aside as his father guided Inoichi by the shoulder towards his home. "I'll see you tomorrow?"

The Akimichi raised an eyebrow, then chuckled, "Yeah, see ya tomorrow."

The two genin remained close friends after what they referred to as the "Chairomi incident" and they swore each other to secrecy to never reveal to anyone that they were at the mercy of a female dog.

….

"Tighten your control."

Kakato grunted at the statement, a drop a sweat running down his temple as he wobbled in his stance on top of the clear water. He could feel his heels beginning to slide into the gentle current that the stream provided and cursed loudly as his whole foot went under.

SPLASH!

Shikamaru sighed at the river's edge, chewing thoughtfully on a freshly plucked blade of grass, while he observed his student swim back to the bank. He was gasping and drenched, but Shikamaru didn't even hesitate in saying in a sigh, "Do it again."

"Can we do something else?" He grumbled, pushing back his soaked hair from his face, "I've been at this for hours."

"It's this or aerial maneuvering, take your pick."

The gentle breeze swayed the green leaves of the trees surrounding the usually peaceful area, causing a small amount of goose bumps to rise on the boy's sleeveless arms. Kakato glanced at Chairomi snoring softly beneath the shade of a nearby tree with envy.

"I'm waiting Inuzuka, I'm not psychic," Shikamaru grunted, poking the boy's forehead for emphasis.

"Why do I have to do this anyway!?" He snapped, "I can climb a tree without any problems now!"

"Your control sucks," His sensei blatantly stated, arching an eyebrow at the challenging growl that rose from the boy's throat, "So get back in the water or start jumping in the air. Either way work on something you suck at instead of your strong points."

Black eyes narrowed at the calm man before him, his fangs overlapping his lip as he grunted and pulled himself from the water. He only looked over his shoulder long enough to give his teacher a small glare, before he stepped back out onto the water. Too bad he didn't see Shikamaru's smirk.

….

It took the boy five months to master the art of walking on water and took him less than five seconds to snarl at the sight of the same piece of paper as before. His sensei didn't flinch at the venom laced growl, but merely rolled his chocolate eyes and groaned up at the sky, "Just do it!"

"No!" The boy crossed his arms firmly over his chest, "I'll work on my maneuvering instead."

"What do you have against nature transformation anyway?"

"It's a-"

"It's an advanced form of ninjutsu and chakra control," He interjected sternly, waving the paper in the boy's face with a scowl, "Something you've actually gotten pretty good at."

Kakato was having none of it as he glared at the parchment and swiped his sensei's hand out of his face. He promptly turned up his nose and stomped off with Chairomi right on his heels towards the training grounds. Shikamaru groaned rubbing his forehead with his palm, silently wishing Temari just as much frustration and just as many headaches.


	8. Konohana: Age 13: Part 3

**Author's Note: Here's the last part of the Age 13 section! Hope you guys like it! (: But, warning there is some tough love in this chapter, because I can't honestly see Temari teaching any other way.**

* * *

**Age 13: Part 3**

**Konohana**

…**.**

Over the course of her first week in Suna, Konohana came to one simple conclusion. She hated sand. It seemed to appear out of nowhere and bury itself in places she didn't believe it was possible to get sand. It stuck to her sweat coated skin during training and tangled itself in her pink hair, until it rubbed her scalp almost raw. Temari had first noticed her new hatred when the girl kept digging at her hair line, leaving pink scratch marks so bright that it almost brought blood to the surface.

She had barked a laugh and smirked, leaning against her iron fan. "Welcome to Suna, brat"

After that, no acknowledgement was given to the girl's new found twitch and was focused on her fighting style. Temari paid strict attention to where her new student would go at all times, never letting her emerald gaze leave the pinkette. She even went as far as to share her apartment with the kunoichi. Gaara had pointed out that he could easily arrange for her to live near Temari, but she waved it off.

"I'm not gonna be the one Naruto comes after if she ends up missing." She smirked, bidding her now silent brother farewell.

She spent the first week observing Konohana spar with a few Sand genin that needed practice and came to a swift conclusion, growling, "Shikamaru screwed me over."

The statement made the kunoichi jump in surprise, leaving her open to the sharp upper cut to the gut that knocked the air out of her. She collapsed to her knees, coughing roughly, and hands clutched over her abused abdomen.

Temari rubbed her palm over her face and called off the match. She had seen enough to know what exactly she was dealing with. "Observation and aim," She snorted under her breath, crossing her arms over her jonin vest, while the girl pushed herself up. "He wasn't kidding."

"Uzumaki!"

She jumped at the bark and stared wide eyed at the fuming blonde now dubbed her sensei. "What the crap was that?! You left yourself wide open for an attack! That would have gotten you killed in a real fight!"

"I-"

"That was rhetorical! Meaning, don't answer!"

Konohana snapped her gaping mouth shut, cringing backward when Temari approached her and leaned down so that her fiery green eyes locked on her saucer wide blue ones. "Play time's over, girl." The woman pulled back just enough to sneer at her, "I got two years to whip you into shape and we're starting now."

In a graceful movement, she whipped her closed fan out. The action made an arch of wind powerfully collide against the girl, making her slide harshly along her heels in the sand. Her arms up to block the torrent of sand that rushed at her, squeezing her blue eyes shut in instinct as her sensei stated loudly, "I think it's time we worked on that chakra control of yours."

"How does this help?!" She yelled over the rushing wind, cracking an eye open to see Temari's still closed fan in her grasp.

"The only way to fix too tight control is to shatter it completely, runt," The kunoichi bent slightly at the waist as she lifted her closed fan with practice ease over her shoulder and sent her a scary smile, "Best way to do that is to drive you into the ground."

…

"UGH!"

The pinkette rolled along the hot sand for the millionth time, wind whipping the grains against her raw hide and into her minor scratches. When the assault ended, she pushed herself up, only to be hit by another artfully controlled gust of air. This one sent her sprawling onto her back, the kunai she had been clutching so tightly buried in a freshly made dune of sand and her forehead protector flung to the side. She could feel tears stinging her blood shot eyes when another blast put her back onto her butt.

"Get up, Uzumaki! Taijutsu won't help." Temari stated firmly, shoving the end of her closed fan into the ground and leaned against it. She watched emotionlessly as the pinkette shoved herself up, only to collapse face first into the sand. "I said get up!"

Finally, the wobbly girl got to her feet. Sweat soaked pink tendrils stuck to her flushed skin, her hair blowing freely in the natural wind current of Suna. Her hair tie was long gone, buried somewhere under a dune of sand.

"Is this the best you got?" The sensei sighed. "This ain't gonna cut it kiddo." Her eyes narrowed at the sight of something wet drizzling down the genin's pink cheeks, "You better not be crying."

Konohana visibly flinched at the low growl and jerked backward at the fire filled glare Temari threw at her.

"Kunoichi's don't cry!"

Shamefully, the girl lowered her watered gaze to the side. Her knuckles popping as she clutched her fists and gritted her teeth just as her senses flared, and then right on cue another gust slapped her abruptly backward. It sent her sliding along her back for a short distance, surprisingly being weaker than the one before it. Temari's fingers itched with anger, her instinct to sling her fan wide open to cut into her opponent made her palms burn, but she kept the iron fan shut tightly. She wasn't trying to kill her, just motivate her.

"I wasn't joking when I said I'd break that control of yours!" The jonin snarled, jade slits watching her student push herself up with shaky arms. "And I wasn't joking when I said I'd break your spine! Fight back!"

Temari moved her iron fan a fraction to the right. The familiar ding of metal colliding against its surface made her hiss in annoyance as yet another set of shuriken laid at her feet. She settled a darkened glare on the pinkette, panting with exertion, "You're not listening to me!"

Another flurry of air and the girl was right back where she started. Her back, fighting to get back to her feet when her muscles burned and skin felt raw from the sand.

"Your daddy's not here to protect you! Being the Hokage's daughter won't cut i-"

"WILL YOU SHUT UP?!"

The woman blinked at the sudden outburst, cocking an eyebrow up at the narrowed set of shining blue eyes that burned into her confident stance. Konohana's teeth ground visibly, her jaw set and gaze flaming with unrestrained anger. But, that wasn't what caught Temari's attention. It was the pin-prickling sensation of raw chakra leaking furiously into the warm breeze and the sand kicking up around the girl's feet in a circle.

A smirk worked its way onto her lips in victory, "Make me"

"AHH!"

Green eyes flew wide at the chakra infused leap the genin made, sending grains of sand flying every which way from the force. Konohana twirled into the air above her sensei, unleashing a torrent of senbon needles down upon the woman. A growl escaped Temari as she spun her fan over her head, whacking the thin slits of metal to the side easily, and slashed the broad side of her tool forward just as the girl's foot collided against it.

"Nice try," She smirked icily, shoving her foot roughly.

The pinkette flipped backward, landing on her feet in a rough slide along her heels. Her fingers flashed through the signs swiftly, but stiffly. Her hands quivered from the anger pulsating through her veins and burning into her hardened ocean glare. "Clone Jutsu!"

Five clones popped up one by one around the scowling sensei, her eyebrows furrowing in brief concentration at the circle of girls around her. Each one held the same amount of fire in them as the last, but there was a tell-tale difference. A small smirk quirked Temari's lips and all the clones lunged. The iron fan thunked into the sand.

The blonde flashed out to the side, whipping the pink haired girl into a well learned headlock. Arms hooked under hers and hands fastened tightly behind her head. "Take it easy tiger," She muttered with a chuckle at Konohana's thrashing.

All the clones popped out of existence at the real kunoichi's struggles, heels digging into the sand ruthlessly in an attempt to lung her away from her sensei, but all struggles proved useless.

"That's what I wanted to see."

The Uzumaki heiress froze at her the woman's softer tone and felt her blue eyes widen in surprise.

"You finally loosened your control." At her word's Temari felt her go limp in shock and her whole body slacken in the once rigid stance. Her fingers unfastened gradually as she released the kunoichi, letting her stumble forward a few steps in the sand, before whirling on her with tears still fresh on her pink cheeks and tangled hair flying. "There may be some hope for you yet Uzumaki."

"Temari-sensei…"

She chuckled at her shaken tone, crossing her arms over her chest. A small smirk spread on her lips. "Are you going to let me teach you?"

Konohana's blue gaze met that of fiery green and once again, Temari watched as her eyes steeled in determination. The pinkette scrubbed her remaining tears away from her dirty face with the back of her hand, nodding furiously and croaking out, "Y-yes"

That was the first time Konohana actually saw her new sensei give her a genuine smile.

….

Over the next few months, Konohana's choke hold control proved to loosen with each sparring session her sensei held with her. Even though Temari didn't consider them exactly sparring matches, since her fan never once was opened to be used against the girl. She focused on her ninjutsu lessons, going through basics like walking on water and climbing up a canyon wall. It wasn't until, upon a hunch, she handed the genin girl a plain piece of white paper.

Konohana's blue eyes widened when the paper split in two and fluttered to her feet. Temari snorted with a smirk at the girl's puzzling expression, "That means you have an affinity with wind nature transformations, runt. Guess you are Uzumaki's brat after all. And here I was thinking about demanding a paternity test from your Mom."

The genin scowled at the smirking woman and it only made Temari's grin grow in size. Konohana snapped, "So what? What difference does that make?!"

"You'll see in time."

Now that scared the pinkette.

….

She never did get her answer and her sensei would give her scary grin that would creep her out whenever she brought it up. Her training began to take on more taijutsu elements, much to the girl's confusion. The drills and sparring matches never let up, they only became harder and more intense over the course of the year.

But, it wasn't until Temari demanded something of her that she became more confused than ever.

"Wipe that look off your face, pinky!" Her sensei growled in frustration, jabbing her finger to the earthy ground of the old, dried up river bed that they had travelled to for that day. "I said meditate and it's not a request!"

With a sour look in the older kunoichi's direction, she lowered herself onto the firm earth, crossing her legs as she did so. It only took a glance at Temari's glare to make her snap her eyes shut. It seemed like hours that she sat there, stiff backed and rigid in place, but eventually the sound of the breeze brushing against her managed to make her relax.

She had heard her father talk about meditation when it came to talking to the Kyuubi that remained within him. But, she didn't have the slightest clue as what would happen when she would cross into that relaxed state. After all, she didn't have a nine tailed fox sealed within her to converse with.

CLING!

The sound pricked her ears and made a small grunt escape her dry throat.

CLING!

With an irritated growl, she opened her eyes, ready to snarl at her sensei. Too bad her sensei was nowhere in sight. Something rough and cold rubbed against her skin as her wide eyes took in the blue tinted room, filled with swirls and whisps of different shades of the color. It wasn't until that something rough seemed to spread over her wrists and ankles did she see just what she had gotten herself into…

"AH!"

"AH!" Temari leapt backward with a jolt at Konohana's outburst, watching the pinkette clasp at her wrists frantically and wide eyed as though she was expecting there to be something there. "What's your problem!?"

She didn't know what worried her more; the fact that her student remained frozen in place, or the fact that she hadn't even bothered to snap back at her.

It took Temari a month to finally convince her to meditate once again, and every time without fail the kunoichi would jolt out of the trance with sweat beading on her forehead.

…..

"So, who's the brat?"

It was a normal day of training in Suna, which translated into Konohana literally eating sand. She watched in confusion as her sensei paused in her strike with her fan and turned to the new voice. The pinkette's brow rose at the sight of a shinobi clad in black and purple paint on his features. Something about the way he held himself reminded her of someone.

Temari smirked, driving the end of her fan into the sand and leaned casually on it. "Nice to see you too, little brother. How long has it been? A year? Oh, I'm fine, don't worry!" Her tone dripped with her usual sarcastic charm, but the small twitch of her lips never wavered.

The man snorted, crossing his arms with his own amused smirk, "Still got that stick up your-"

"Say it and you'll eat sand," She quipped swiftly, budging her fan with her elbow for emphasis. But, the smirk never wavered as her tone softened. "And I missed you to."

"Would have seen me sooner if you weren't in Konoha all the time" This time he directed a small glance at the lanky genin, "And when you actually stick around for longer than a month you bring home a stray."

An unconscious snarl left the pinkette's lips at the man, who just smirked at the girl's reaction and returned his gaze to his chuckling older sister. Temari's eyes glimmered with amusement as she jabbed a thumb at the growling kunoichi in training. "Konohana Uzumaki"

It took a minute for the name to process in his tired mind, settling back on his heels a bit while gazing at the genin. Blue eyes locked with his slight narrowed ones and struck a chord of familiarity within him. If her name wasn't a dead giveaway, that look in her eyes would have been.

"Naruto's kid, huh." He muttered, glancing at the loose pink strands that strung in the girl's face. "Didn't know what she looked like." Awkwardly, he shifted the scrolls on his back and flashed his sister a smirk, "I'll be back to terrorize you later, I got to go file a report."

Temari snorted, "Wonderful"

The painted man chuckled waving a two fingered wave before, making his depart. But, he made sure to call over his shoulder, "I got a year's worth to make up for sis!"

This time Temari didn't restrain the smile on her lips, shaking her head at him before returning her gaze to the genin. She nearly cackled at the expression on the girl's face, but managed to chuckle out, "That'd be my brother, Kankurou."

Konohana's expression softened at the twinkle in Temari's eyes and realized something with a small twist of her stomach. Her sensei's gaze temporarily took in the sandy surroundings and admired the village in the distance.

Her sensei had been home sick.

…

"Temari-sensei…"

"What?" The blonde kunoichi sighed tiredly, never letting her gaze waver from the task at hand. She twisted the silver key within the dead bolt, until the sound of a click filled her ears.

Konohana licked her dry lips nervously, "You don't have to live with me…"

Green eyes widened incredulously as she jerked her head to stare at the pink haired girl. Her eyebrows inched up onto her forehead when she continued, "I'd be fine by myself. I know you moved into the apartment just to keep me-"

"Don't flatter yourself-"

"I saw the forms on the counter. You began renting the apartment the day we arrived."

For the entire length of her stay, Konohana had never heard her sensei rendered speechless. The subtle manner in which her mouth parted, but snapped back shut gave it away. Carefully, Temari composed herself and let a wry smirk spread on her lips.

"You must have missed them…" She didn't have to finish her statement, because she knew her sensei would get the hint as to who she was referring to.

With a small sigh, the kunoichi leaned in the doorway, tapping her fingers on her crossed arms rhythmically, "It's part of the job, kid." Her gaze trailed over her shoulder inside the small apartment and landed on a picture nailed to the wall. The hard edge in her eyes melted at the sight of her two younger brothers staring back at her from behind the glass and sighed, "Get inside and get some rest, you'll need it."

"But-"

Konohana stopped abruptly at the sharp look her sensei pinned her with and deflated her squared shoulders. Silently, the pinkette slipped through the doorway and into the apartment, "Goodnight, sensei"

"Night," Temari followed the girl's back, until she shut the door to her bedroom. The kunoichi slumped in her forced stance and turned to the picture hanging on the wall. The sight of her two brothers made the corner of her lips wobble up into a tiny smile.

* * *

**Author's Note: Age 14 chapter is split. Half over Kakato's training and the other over Konohana's. **


	9. Reunited: Ages 14-15

**Author's Note: Sorry it's been a while. I'm nearing the end of my first year of college and things are kind of getting hectic, but I will try to update more often. Promise! (:**

**Now, as for this chapter. I thought that things were getting a bit slow paced, so I decided to put two chapters in one. And I know that if I don't post this now I'll pick it apart for weeks. I hope this isn't a failed attempt. So, I hope you guys enjoy it!**

* * *

**Reunited**

**Ages 14-15**

…**..**

_**Age 14: Konohana**_

A year seemed like such a long time when on a piece of paper. When staring at a calendar of months, weeks, and days it seemed like an eternity. But, to Temari it seemed as if time had slipped through her fingers just like grains of sand.

A year she had spent training the naïve pinkette and for a year she witnessed her grow. Her figure was beginning to form, the new subtle curve of her sides and the way her once too large features seemed to become more at home on her face made Temari realize just how long she had spent training her. Half way through the second year of her training she had abandoned braiding her hair. It had fallen one too many times and blinded her to too many attacks. Her pink locks now were fastened into a high ponytail with two shiny senbon securing the holder by acting as chopsticks.

Sure, it wasn't all sunshine and rainbows. She still tended to shy from ninjutsu techniques, especially a certain one that involved creating clones.

But, after hours upon hours of watching her form signs, gather chakra, and execute a jutsu, she thought she had a decent idea at what the core problem was. Her chakra flickered and wavered like a busty electric socket. Then, SLAM! Her control would snap and shut off the chakra like a dam.

And just when she thought she had the kid's every move and thought had become predictable, she actually became surprised.

Konohana pulled an 'Uzumaki' on her….

It was a normal evening at home for the jonin, lounging on her comfortable dark brown sofa with a book in her lap. Konohana was occupied taking a shower to rid her hair of sand due to the day's training. The apartment emanated with comfortable silence that was expected, the only sound being the noise of running water.

Temari vaguely noted that the water had stopped and the thudding sound of a set of feet padding against the floorboards in the direction of the pinkette's room. She didn't budge until she heard the tell-tale click of a door shutting. And when she did, she promptly turned a page crisply.

Her skin prickled.

Her head snapped up in a flash becoming aware of the familiar pulsation, just as a pair of smaller arms constricted around her shoulders. A growl escaped Temari as she bent forward sharply, affectively flinging the girl over her body. Wet tendrils of pink caught her eye. Konohana landed on her feet solidly and whirled on the balls of her feet, swinging her foot out to collide against her jaw.

The kunoichi ducked at the millisecond too late action, swinging her leg out and knocked her opponent's feet out from under her. Konohana barely managed thrust out her hands behind her and to flip over onto her feet. Temari momentarily felt a spark of recognition at the move she had taught the genin, before she launched herself forward to wrap her hand around her student's throat.

"Too slow," Temari snidely smirked at the flicker of energy that sparked the girl's eyes.

A growl left the girl's clenched teeth and in a blink of an eye her knee roughly collided against her sensei's sternum with enough force to knock the wind from her. Stunned by the brunt action gave the teen an opening, allowing her to snatch her wrist and to twist Temari's arm around her back in a firm grapple lock. In that second, Temari found herself pinned snuggly against the cool wall of her apartment and let her shoulders quake in amusement.

That girl had some _nerve_….

In a barely recognizable blonde blur, she hooked her foot around her weak ankle. All it took was one harsh yank to send her student flying onto her back, eyes wide in surprise as she gazed up at her teacher, who had her legs pinned down with her knees and a shiny kunai poised at her bared throat.

"I win." Konohana blinked, still in the full effects of surprise, before a familiar scowl twisted her cracked lips at her sensei's cackling. "Gutsy move there, trying to pull a fast one on me, ya brat."

"Not like you don't do that to me every other day." She spat back, eyes narrowed into ocean slits up at the woman.

"Let's make something clear, little girl," The dangerous growl behind her words wiped the look off her student's face. "The day you can leave a mark on me is the day I'm no longer your teacher. Until then, you're nothing more than sand under my feet. Are we clear?"

Konohana's eyes squeezed tightly shut.

"Are we clear, girl?" She growled, touching the tip of the metal to the sunburned flesh of the genin's neck.

Her eyes flew open steeled in defiance, "Yes, Temari-sensei."

She had launched many sneak attacks on the unsuspecting girl many times over the course of the year, trying to sharpen her already forming sensor skills.

Never did she think that her meek student would turn the tables on her….

Slowly, the kunoichi rose fluidly to her feet, satisfied she had ripped enough dignity away from the girl. With one more narrowed glance at her student, Temari turned on her heel to go gather the laundry.

She hadn't even taken four steps when the buzz of approaching chakra sent her swiveling to the side, catching a glimpse of silver as it collided against the wall. Annoyance flashed in her green eyes, until she looked at the spot on the wall.

There was a hole in place of where the kunai should have been.

The blonde breathed. "How did she-" Realization washed over her.

Temari turned to stare at the slightly smirking kunoichi and pinned her with a hard stare, "You charged it with chakra." It wasn't a question. "I showed you that a few months ago."

Konohana's smirk widened into an accomplished smile.

"Alright, ya little punk, point proven. You've gotten stronger." A signature wicked smirk crossed Temari's lips that made Konohana pale and her smile waver, "And you're fixing that wall."

…

Temari didn't praise Konohana on her _one_ accomplishment, because she still had a mountain of obstacles to overcome before she'd ever consider sending her back to Konoha. One main issue was her sensing.

They had six months remaining before their time was up and Temari figured it was about time she corrected the pinkette's method…..

"UGH!"

Sand scratched at the pinkette's pink cheeks as her face met the ground. The sound of her sensei sighing filled her ears and made her look over her shoulder at the irritated woman.

"What did I say about doing that?!" She snapped, vein pulsating on her forehead, "You can't just stop and crouch down to sense something! You might as well put a big _freakin'_ target on your back!"

"Then tell me how!"

Temari's frustrated roar echoed throughout Suna as her eyes flamed at the girl, "What do you think I've been saying for the last hour!? Go into a peaceful state! Meditate! I haven't been saying it for my health!"

Blue eyes narrowed as Konohana threw her hands in the air, "What do you think I've been doing?!"

"I don't know, but that isn't it!"

The pinkette deflated loudly, cheeks still slightly puffed out from all the air she inhaled as an attempt to calm herself. A hard stare became trained on her, lips curled back to reveal her straight white teeth as she growled out, "Do. It. Again."

"But-"

"No buts!" Temari's eyes flashed, "Do it again!"

The cycle continued well into the night and well into the early morning. And Temari refused to let her stop. She watched repeatedly as her student failed to keep herself from getting hit, and repeatedly would collapse into the sand after the low level blow. Every time she told her to get back up and every time Konohana did. Even if she did end up on her face seconds later….

"Failure number one thousand, two hundred, and forty six." The blonde announced void of emotion as the pinkette shakily pushed herself back up. "Again."

A small groan escaped the pinkette's dry lips, her gaze traveling up to the orange tinted sky that began to melt into a familiar shade of blue. "Sensei-"

"Again, Uzumaki."

Konohana grunted at her stinging skin and at the tingling sensation of her muscles wearing out. With one more glance upward at her stone like teacher, she let her eyes slide shut and pushed her senses outward. Ten seconds later, her chakra just managed to brush something when-

WHAM!

"Failure number one thousand, two hundred, and-"

"I KNOW!"

Temari blinked at the fuming pinkette calmly, shifting her weight onto her left foot as she tilted her head to the side. "Do you?" Her lips thinned into a scowl, "Then show me." Green flames locked onto blue steel, "Show me that I'm not wasting my time on you and listen to what I told you!"

The stare was broken by the genin's gaze drifting downward to glare at her blue sandals with frustration. Her fists shook at her sides as she squeezed her eyes tightly shut, feeling the burning sensation building in frustration. Fear began to worm into her, her mind already flying back to the restraints that would wrap around her wrists, holding her prisoner. Unconsciously, her hand rubbed her wrist nervously.

"Again," Blue flashed upward to meet unwavering green. "We're not leaving until you can stop an attack. Stop wasting time by staring at me!"

Her stomach felt like it had been twisted into knots, palms slick with sweat, and knees shaking under her weight. With one more glance at her sensei, she reluctantly let her eyes slide closed, swallowed roughly, and forced her breaths into a soothing rhythm.

One second…

Her blue eyes opened reluctantly and were met with the sight of blue wisps of different hues twisting in the air in front of her. A familiar coldness wrapped tightly around her wrists and ankles. Panic almost immediately set in.

Two seconds…

She choked back her building tears, yanking at her limbs, willing herself to be released.

Three seconds….

Her struggles grew, frantically pulling and yanking against the cold restraints. The warmth of her tears that she had been holding back began to run down her cheeks freely. Of all things, of course her mind would have her being held by her wrists.

"_You'll do great," Her mother's warm voice echoed, "Do what Temari says and come home to us soon baby girl."_

Four seconds…..

"_Nothing's wrong with you. I wasn't the best Academy student either, Konohana."_

"_Make daddy proud!"_

Her father's voice sent another sob through her. She was scared, scared of what her own mind produced to torture her. Hot tears streamed from her tightly squeezed eyes, "I'm sorry Daddy… "

Five seconds…..

"_What do you know!? What can you do?! You ARE useless!"_

She could still see Kakato's snarl twisted features, her shoulders quivered as each shout and growl sent more shudders through her.

Pulsating warmth made her jump in surprise and glance downward at the tear drop necklace that she had protected religiously. It glowed slightly, swirls of chakra bursting with light within the glass. A more soothing tone replaced the vicious snarls…

"_Come back in one piece, I can't get another partner if you croak."_

Six seconds….

"_Your daddy's not here to protect you!"_

Fists tightened in their limp state as her shoulders hardened and she could feel her teeth ground in determination. She had made it this far. Slowly, the frigidness melted into simmering warmth.

"_There may be some hope for you yet Uzumaki."_

Seven seconds…..

"Uzumakis don't give up." A feminine voice swirled around her like the wisps of blue, filling her ears. It struck a chord within her tightened chest, sparking life into her limp form with its soft yet rough nature.

The rigid restraints seemed to soften, her back straightening at the sound and eyes steeled. Eyes flicked upward at her wrists, restrained by shimmering blue.

"Uzumakis don't give up!" It echoed throughout the room, resounding back to her, and each time becoming louder and more commanding.

With a dog like snarl, her eyes turned to fiery slits, wrapping her fingers around the bind. Azul shone as she put every bit of her power behind her pull…..

Temari strategically circled the pinkette at a safe distance. Her green orbs narrowed to slits in her crouch, watching for any sign of her student winning the fight against her inner demons. The only sign given was the normal breeze tousling her blonde strands. With a sigh, she lunged, ready to end the non-productive round.

She was still airborne, soaring through the air at the eighth second, about to deliver the ritual sturdy kick to her student's back. Prickles exploded across her skin suddenly, nearly electrifying her at the consistent wave. In a flash, she was yanked down to the sandy earth.

The ninth second, Konohana's eyes fluttered open, a new light spinning in the hard color as she turned to look behind her to see her sensei in a crouch. Temari glanced downward at her ankle, still being held hostage, and then glanced upward to stare at the genin.

"What the crap?!" It was all the blonde could manage to say….

Ten seconds….

…..

_**Age 14: Kakato**_

The Inuzuka jumped from branch to branch through the dense forest surrounding his home, enjoying the sensation of the breeze whipping against his red marked cheeks and the way it made him feel like he was flying. The fourteen year old glanced to his right, smiling at the Husky female beside him. Her tongue hung out as she bound from branch to branch, while letting out a small howl every now and then. It was rare they got moments like this anymore.

It was rare to feel his adrenaline pumping through his newly changing body and get to feel free. To feel the air brushing strands of his brown hair that was pulled into a pony-tail, much like his sensei's. All they ever really did now was spar with Shikami.

Shikami was skilled, don't get him wrong, but she wasn't-

Kakato skidded to a halt, widened black eyes blinking at the spot he would have sworn he saw a flash of pink, only to growl at his own traitorous mind. Chairomi landed next to him a moment later with a small thud, her big brown eyes filled with concern as she nipped his arm lightly with her teeth.

"I know, I know," He grumbled, running a palm over his features.

The Husky gave off a small whine, her wet nose nudging his hand.

He and Shikami didn't fight much less talk unless he tried to bait her. Even though that never worked, since she ignored him. She was just a fill in after all and claimed it took too much energy to learn the habits of two teams, rather than one, especially when she was just temporary. He claimed he was bored and needed someone to goad, and until his 'good for nothing' partner decided to stop playing in the sand she would be his target.

She had ended that discussion by pinning him again.

With a tiny growl, he shook his head harshly and glanced down at the only loyal female at his side. "Want to try again?" Her lip curled back to reveal pointed teeth in a smile and made him chuckle, "Thought so."

In a harsh chakra infused jump, they launched off the branch. Kakato's brow furrowed in concentration, focusing on how he twisted his body to rotate around the female's. He focused on revolving, pinning his arms would increase his speed and accuracy. The wind rushed around him as they completed a total of six rotations, before he lost his focus.

A strong, bitter scent filled his nostrils and effectively threw him off.

A sharp bark, the sound of claws meeting tree bark, and teeth clamping into his red jacket froze his descent. The genin huffed grumpily, looking up to see his partner in crime holding him literally by the skin of her teeth. "Thanks girl."

She huffed her response, hauling him onto the branch with ease, and licked his red marked cheek. Kakato sighed, ruffling her coat as he glanced around to look for the source of the scent.

Chairomi had hit her signature growth spurt about half way through their first year of intensive training and was now almost as big as Akamaru when they stood side by side. The little puppy had also gained some abilities under her belt with some one-on-one fights with renowned beast and could hold her own for a descent amount of time.

Kiba had said it was a feat, since she was a female attacking a male.

But, they both had more to learn, despite the back breaking training.

"Want to try again girl?"

The Husky growled, her muzzle wrinkling suddenly. _That _meant one thing and it made him sigh, glancing over his shoulder. "Sup, Shikami?"

Right on cue, the blonde kunoichi landed in a crouch on the branch in front of them. The silver plate attached to her bun holder glinted in the available sun as she fixed him with a lazy stare, "You made it six rotations that time."

"Thanks for the update," He grunted with a rigid smile that sent the kunoichi rolling her eyes. "Anything else?"

"Old man just sent me to check on you," She shrugged neutrally, rising to stand on her sandal clad feet and stretched her arms above her head. "Ya know. Make sure you haven't maimed yourself or something troublesome."

The Inuzuka could feel a vein just waiting to burst at the jab, his fanged teeth gnashing in a dark chuckle, "I'm perfectly fine, Slacker Jr."

The comment breezed over the kunoichi, her only acknowledgement that he even gave a comment came through the slight tilting of her lips and the glint in her brown eyes. "Nice try. It'll take more than that." Her expression morphed into a full blown smirk, "I'm not Uzumaki after all."

In a flash, she was gone and a kunai was embedded into the branch she had just occupied. Kakato cursed, glancing down at the still growling female and grumbled as he ruffled her brown coat. "I know girl, I know."

Chairomi held sort of a small vendetta against the Nara heiress. The Husky would flinch at her shadow manipulations that would sneak up on them during sparring, and didn't trust the shifty nature the kunoichi held.

All growls stopped abruptly at the shift in her partner's scent. Her wide brown eyes flashed up to the human, nipping at his hand in a reassuring manner with her teeth.

Kakato's slit like eyes snapped back into focus, shaking his head once to clear the foggy nature his mind had taken. "Come on. Let's get this technique right."

She barked in agreement and they both leapt off the branch in unison.

…..

It was within the year mark in his and Inoichi's friendship that he crashed there team's meeting. His sensei was less than pleased and he ended up with a few more lumps than usual.

Currently, Kakato was dropping in on the team's sparring matches, warily looking over the terrain for any sign of their sensei. Shikami and Chokaru fiercely battled with only the use of kunai, while Inoichi remained leaned against a tree and observed his sweating teammates with amusement. His messy brown hair remained shaggy, slightly hanging over his blue eyes, while he chewed on a blade of grass.

The genin's eyes flitted to his side at the faint noise of his friend approaching and smirked. "Took ya long enough! I was about to die from estrogen overload."

Kakato snorted, leaning against the tree's trunk next to his friend, "Seems like it. Enjoying the view?"

Inoichi flushed, scratching the back of his neck nervously. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah, and your sensei is only a little crazy."

"You're the one that said kunoichis couldn't fight." The genin smirked at the small growl his friend gave off at the reminder.

"She hates me."

"And you hate her. See? The world's in balance." The male twin chuckled at Kakato's snarl and nudged him with his elbow.

The dog nin rolled his eyes, a small smirk still present as he began to observe the blonde kunoichis sparring match with a bit more attention to other areas other than their kunai. His head tilted to the side and his smirk widened, "Your sister's grown."

"Ew! Shut up!" Inoichi shuddered, scrunching his nose in disgust. "That's my sister!"

"She's not mine."

"What did you say?!"

Both males froze and paled at the thunderous roar from above. Cringing in unison, they tilted their heads up to see the fire breathing dragon herself standing on a branch above, brown eyes blazing as she popped her knuckles.

Tenten's eye twitched, "Do you care to repeat that comment about my student, Inuzuka?!"

Said genin gulped dryly and smiled shakily up at the jonin, "Tenten-sensei! You're looking beautiful this wonderful evening! Did you do something new with-"

"Cut the crap Inuzuka and get a head start!"

Kakato scowled, looking at his friend for aid, but only got a smirk that made him growl. "You're on your own this time." He chuckled, "I would start running. She's cut three more seconds off her running time."

The boy cursed as the woman lunged out of the tree and began to run as though his life depended on it. "I told you she hates me!"

"I can't imagine why." Inoichi rolled his blue eyes, watching his best friend being chased down by his sensei. His gaze went to the ninken silently lying in the grass at his feet and smirked, "Can you, Chairomi?"

She huffed a laugh.

…

Shikamaru remained reclined against the bark of the tree, thoroughly enjoying the shade it provided while he watched his student. Casually, he spit the blade of grass from his mouth, "Come out, Ino. I know you're there."

Right on cue, there was the rustle of leaves and branches, and then there was a fully dressed ANBU crouching before him. The animal porcelain mask stared at him, before a heavy sigh escaped its wearer and a small hand pushed it up onto her head. "How do you do that?"

"I'm married to a freakin' sensor. You learn to pay attention." His brown gaze drifted lazily over her shoulder, double checking to make sure Kakato's new nosebleed wouldn't be life threatening, before returning his attention to his friend. "Something tells me this is business and not a friendly visit."

The blue eyed kunoichi sighed, shoulders deflating as she lowered herself to sit cross legged on the grass. "Takamaru arrived today."

_That_ got his attention, "Suna's fastest hawk?"

"The one and only, genius. It was a message from your wife to the Hokage."

Shikamaru groaned, while ten million different possibilities flashed through his mind as to what exactly would warrant a message out of the blue. Especially, since he hadn't seen or heard from her since her departure. "What's making me think that it's not good news?"

"Eh," Ino's blonde brows scrunched together, "It wasn't bad….It was just weird."

"Ino, sometime this century would ya? I got a knuckle head I got to teach ya know."

The ANBU captain grit her teeth in annoyance, "You lazy bum! You were about to fall asleep when I got here! What makes you think-"

A small smirk spread across the shadow manipulator's lips, lazily watching as his friend ranted at him and threatened to wipe that smirk clean off his face. It brought back good memories of when they were Team 10. Only he and Choji could get this kind of reaction out of her anymore.

"UGH! I was just supposed to tell you that Temari requested Konohana's family files and-"

"Whoa! Hold it!" His brows furrowed as he stared at the calming blonde, "Why in the world would that woman want those for?"

With an annoyed grunt, the kunoichi got to her feet, brushing nonexistent grass from her pants. "I don't know. She just did. " A flick of her wrist slid her mask back in place, "Naruto wanted me to tell you, since you're her 'sensei'." She put air quotes around the word and jabbed a thumb over her shoulder, "But, I'd be more worried about the one knocked unconscious."

In a blur of blonde, she was gone and Shikamaru was groaning at the sight of Kakato laying his back knocked out cold, "Why me?"

….

The warm breeze of Konoha brushed against Kakato's sweat tinged skin. His breaths were ragged from the continuous training of rotation and air maneuvering, and Chairomi wasn't in any better shape. She lay at his feet, panting with her tongue rolled out and would whimper every so often when the breeze would stop.

A tired sigh escaped his lips, black slits skimming the surrounding shrubbery. When a fruity scent was carried to him on a casual breeze and filled his nostrils. Blueberries.

"Hey, sis," He muttered, hearing the small thump of sandals meeting grass. Slightly, he turned his head, taking in the sight of her in a dark green flak jacket and her brown hair falling smoothly around her shoulders. "How long have ya been back?"

"A few hours," The dark moons under her white lavender eyes stated just how tired she was. A small grin quirked her lips, "I just wanted to see how you were doing. I haven't seen you."

Awkwardly, he scratched the back of his neck, "Been busy."

"Kakato….," Her usually hyper voice sounded so lifeless that it sent a tremor through him. It seemed all her energy had been stolen from her, even her usually bright grin seemed dull. "I've missed you."

When they were younger, days before she was a ninja, they had been so close. Memories of chasing puppies around in the yard, playing ninja tag, and pulling pranks on their father still filled her mind. It was moments like this, when she looked back on how they were and looked at how they are now, that she regretted ever stepping foot in the Academy.

His gaze never lifted to look at her as she smiled sadly at her baby brother. Mimi wasn't stupid. She knew he resented her and realized this a while back….

"_Kakato," She stepped forward._

"_Don't!"_

_His sharp snap made her freeze upon the spot, her eyes only softening more with an emotion that made him snarl. "Don't look at me like that!" Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, "Don't you dare pity me!"_

_Mimi recoiled as though she had been slapped at his venom laced words. "I never-"_

_He didn't listen, merely turning his head to the side to further avoid looking at her pale face. "Just go. I'll be home in a few."_

A long breath left her parted lips, "Dad said you've been training for the Chunin Exams next year."

"Yeah…"

Pale fingers twisted a lock of brown around her finger, "I could help….if you'd like. I know a few things I could teach you…"

"You can't teach me Byakugan." He growled bitterly, rousing Chairomi from her short nap with the sound. "I don't need your pity-"

"It's called love, Kakato! Not pity." Her tone strengthened to rise over his with a snap, "I care about you. I just wanted to offer it, since I'm not going on any missions soon…."

"Why's that?" The growl wasn't any longer tainting his words as he stared genuinely curious at his older sibling.

"I've decided to become a veterinary medical-nin. Aunt Hana already agreed to teach me."

Obviously, that wasn't what he thought she was going to say. Since, his jaw dropped ever so slightly and brows rose. "A vet?"

A pleased smile lifted the corner of her lips, "You heard me right." Her shoulders rose in fell in a tiny shrug, letting her gaze drift down at the silent Husky by his feet. Her eyes were glazed over, "I did always like taking care of the puppies and ninken around."

Kakato's slit like eyes lowered to Chairomi, glancing between her and his sister. He did remember his sister always fawning over the puppies and dogs alike that were around her. Especially, Akamaru who had gotten his fair share of spoiling because of said girl.

The memory of the day that Chairomi chose him and none of the ninken chose her was still fresh in his mind. She had patted him on the back and ruffled Chairomi's hair with a wobbly smile on her lips….

A pang of familiar emotion loosened his tense shoulders as his eyes swept upward to his sister. Mimi gave him a tiny grin, producing a small treat from her pocket. The grin didn't budge as Chairomi trotted up to her and began to nibble away at the snack.

The young genin may know what it was like to be without the renowned Byakugan, but he couldn't imagine being without Chairomi. So maybe….

"Yeah."

"Hm?" Shining white lavender eyes met his, eyes that he had been trying to outdo for years.

"Yeah, I'd like you to teach me some stuff." It felt weird saying those words to the very person he tried to beat in life. He had dedicated most of his ninja career trying to surpass his sister, but right now he didn't see a rival.

Kakato just saw his big sister giving him a bright smile.

….

**Age 15**

"THEY'RE LATE!"

The booming voice echoed throughout the village hidden in the leaves, causing many passersby's to flinch and scurry past the registration area. Birds even squawked in protest at the noise.

Shikamaru just tried to attend to his slowly building migraine, pinching the bridge of his nose. Brown eyes remained squeezed tightly shut, his back propped up against the wall to keep him upright. To say the least, it hadn't been a very good week. Cautiously, he cracked one eye open to stare at his growling student kicking at the tiled floor. Around them were teams already registered.

What was the problem?

Temari was supposed to have returned with Konohana a week ago and no one had seen a trace of them in that time span. So, Shikamaru was left to trying to decide if he should knock his student out or not.

"Inuzuka!" He snapped irritably, brown orbs narrowed into slits, "Put a lid on it!"

Said boy growled in his throat in displeasure at the reprimand, crossing his formed arms over his chest but obediently kept silent as he leaned against the wall with his sensei. At least Shikamaru knew he took orders better than he used to.

The fifteen year old's eyes swept up and down the halls, filled with genin of all ages awaiting their chance to move up in rank. A scowl pulled at his lips.

He and Konohana were the only ones left in their class to have not moved up. As usual, they were behind. Inoichi had even passed the exam before this one, smugly gesturing to his new flak jacket.

"Any sign of them?"

Both boys' heads jerked upward in unison at the slightly edgy tone, finding a pink haired kunoichi before them, but the wrong one. Sakura adjusted her white and red vest self-consciously, her green gaze went over each face as her teeth nibbled into her lower lip.

"Nope," Shikamaru grumbled, rubbing his temples now in a circular motion. "They're going to start the first part soon."

The head medic-nin grunted under her breath, "Naruto's having a spaz attack."

"That's new?"

An un-lady like snort left her, arms crossing over her chest, "No, but when the Kazekage arrived and asked if he got to see his daughter yet…"

Another groan left the shadow manipulator. This was getting better and better. "I get it."

Her green orbs flickered around the room once more, pink brows furrowed, "I'm going to go try and calm him down," Her gaze landed on the scowling man before her, "If she arrives, please tell me."

"Gotcha," A weak solute was all he could offer to the stressed kunoichi, who sighed deeply in response and disappeared back into the swarm. "Just what we need. Two kunoichis MIA and a Hokage about to have a mental break down," The shadow manipulator grumbled, "Troublesome."

Kakato shifted uneasily in his place, fists clenched and tucked under his arms so that his sensei wouldn't notice. He had sent Chairomi out to see if the dog-nin could track them if they were nearby, but at the rate this was going….

"Stupid Uzumaki." It was a small growl, but it was loud enough to get his sensei's attention.

Shikamaru's eyes lazily traveled over to his student, staring intensely at the tiles beneath his black sandals as though were puppy killers. A loud sigh escaped the man and he deflated his stiffened shoulders. "Kakato-"

Kakato's head snapped up as the smell of bitter lavender washed over him.

* * *

**Author's Note: Oops, did I forget to mention it's a cliff hanger? **

**Oh, and if any of you guys are interested in some visuals for the story- to get a better idea of what some characters look like you can find me on deviantart also, under the same name. So far I only have one group shot and a timeline for Konohana, but I'm working on others.**


	10. Chunin Exams 1: Age 15

**Author's Note: Thanks for all the reviews/alerts/ favorites guys! (: Yeah, I know it's weird for me to update so soon. But, the chapter was finished and I'd pick it apart until I posted it. Hopefully you all enjoy it!**

**Now this chapter involves stage 1 of the Chuning Exams. There was a certain element that I couldn't find too much on..soooo I just got creative. And no, this stage isn't really dangerous, but it does serve a purpose. And the future stages will increase in risks and dangers.**

**Enjoy~!**

* * *

**Chunin Exams: 1**

**Age: 15**

…

"Who ya calling stupid, mutt?"

Kakato's slit like eyes widened at the familiar voice that followed tell-tale bitter scent. Slowly, he pushed away from the wall and was reunited with a happily yipping Chairomi trotting up to him with an accomplished sparkle in her big brown eyes.

"Who do ya think pink-"

The words froze on his tongue as his gaze lifted from the ninken to the kunoichi. Black slits stared incredulously, blinking periodically as if trying to clear some illusion.

The only thing that was still the same about her was the bright blue color of her shirt and her navy spandex shorts. Her hair was even different! Now up in a high ponytail with two senbon acting as chopsticks.

Her shirt was one sleeved, a single long went from the top of her left shoulder to her wrist, a thick black strap occupied her otherwise naked right arm. The neck of the shirt went at a sharp angle from base of her neck to under her right arm. The hem mocked the neck, going from her left side diagonally upward to her right.

The forehead protector wrapped was still wrapped around her hips, a white skirt that fell to her right knee cut sharply upward to her left hip. Black fingerless covered her hands and she donned calf high grey sandals that had a small heel.

Kakato blinked again, his voice seemed to have simmered out in surprise. It had been two years. Mentally, he knew that she would be different, look different, but why had he expected to still see the same gangly thirteen year old he fought with constantly?

"Wow, quiet for a whole ten seconds. That has to be a new record."

The moment shattered at her bland comment and effectively brought him back to reality with a small jolt. He gave low snarl that rattled his ribs, teeth bared, and eyes narrowed, "Where the _heck_ have you been, Uzumaki?!"

"Someone's gotten touchy," Blue eyes rolled in exasperation and hands rested familiarly on her hips, "Is it that time of the month pup?"

Kakato did a double take at the deadpanned comment. His jaw would have dropped if he hadn't consciously put effort into keeping it up. Did the quiet, naïve little Uzumaki just say what he thought….

"_What did you say_?!" It came out as an outraged screech.

The response he got came in the form of her lips quirking up into a small smirk. Blue eyes sparked in amusement at his gape stricken features, snorting, "Menstruating _and_ going deaf. That must suck."

Neither student noticed their joint sensei deflating with huff at the interaction taking place in front of him, nor his brown eyes flashing to the side to stare accusingly at his smirking wife. She remained leaning against the wall casually and met her husband's gaze head on.

Green orbs filled with a mischievous glint, "Something wrong, Nara?"

Shikamaru grunted through his teeth and returned his attention back to the still gaping Inuzuka. Konohana on the other hand, seemed rather calm. Her features didn't portray any particular emotion and her body language remained strictly casual. The way she held herself contrasted enormously from the pinkette he had waved to as she stepped outside the village's gates…

"Great, just what I need. A Temari junior running around," He rolled his gaze lazily to look at the blonde out of the corner of his eye. A sadistic smile formed on her features, earning another exasperated sigh. "Troublesome woman."

Temari barked a dry laugh, "Ya know, most husbands would just say I miss you."

"If you want something sappy, go get a freakin' card." Despite this, a miniscule smile appeared as he leaned over to press a kiss to her cheek. "And I missed you too, stubborn woman."

A warmer gleam softened the usual hard edge in her green eyes for a brief second, before the moment ended and the kunoichi cleared her throat loudly, "Hey brat!"

Steel blue and fiery green clashed, both kunoichi not wavering in the miniature standoff.

"Go get your team register! You don't pass this year and I'm taking you straight back to Suna to train until the next one." Temari's normal scary smirk topped off the threat.

"Wouldn't _that_ be wonderful?" The pinkette grumbled under her breath.

She threw one more glance at her sensei, held her stern stare for a moment longer, and spun sharply on her heel. In no time she disappeared into the sea of genin, not even a strand of pink in sight.

Shikamaru's eyebrows rose at the interaction and turned his head to stare his wife curiously. She just shrugged and crossed her arms over her chest as though the girl's nature wasn't out of the ordinary. For her it wasn't, but to her husband it seemed to be a complete one eighty.

"Sensei?"

Both jonins' attention locked on the clearly confused teen boy. His eyebrows were furrowed and lips twisted into a sharp scowl. Judging by the occasional nibble his fang would give to his lower lip, Shikamaru knew he was stumped.

A deep sigh escaped the Nara's lips, "What is it Inuzuka?"

Kakato scratched the back of his head, "How long has Uzumaki been a girl?"

He never did get his answer. Shikamaru was too busy slapping his forehead and Temari was roaring with laughter that everyone within a ten mile radius would have heard.

…..

It was soon after Naruto had been deemed Hokage that it was decided that the Chunin Exams would vary with each year. Stages would be changed or rearranged as was deemed fit. The only factor that remained the same was the one-on-one match in the final stage. The new concept was to prevent information gathering throughout the test. Mainly, to keep someone gaining an upper hand on their opponents just because they took the test more often.

Naruto never did give a completely solid reason as to why he did this. He would cheerfully steer the conversation in another direction when asked and no one on the council noticed, if they did they didn't press the blonde. But, Sakura had a sneaking suspicion it had to do with when they themselves were taking the Chunin Exams, and met a certain ninja that had cards of information on everyone there…

When one night she confronted him with her hunch, he had given her a small smile and a shook his head chuckling. "Never could hide anything from you."

"I can see you not wanting the test to be memorized, but opponents are still going to be gathering information on each other. You can't prevent that."

Naruto gave her a lopsided grin, "That doesn't mean I have to make it easy for them."

All Sakura could do was shake her head, a warm smile pulling at her lips.

**Round: 1**

A line of teams stood at the entrance to the grand arena. It had taken Konohana ten seconds to notice a theme among them when she stepped into line. Their faces were still round with youth and eyes bright as they chatted amongst their teammates. They were all around the age of thirteen, only some older teams were thrown into the mix.

Her blue gaze flitted over the masked faces of the two ANBU that guarded the entrance. Inside was a team from Suna. And every time she heard a high pitched screech or something akin to a scream, she had the urge to jump or cringe. Konohana would have if she wasn't painfully aware of the roaming gazes of other teams.

Bubblegum pink hair broadcasted her parentage for anyone who looked into who the Hokage had married. Most probably had and pink hair wasn't exactly a common trait.

Temari had given her one more 'pep talk', before the beginning of the test commenced….

"_Hold back. Don't show them everything you got in the first round, wait until the one-on-one match. Use what you need to survive until then, but nothing more." She had a small scowl on her lips at the pinkette's raised eyebrow, "Don't think they're not watching you brat. Peace or not, they'll be gathering information on you and everyone else. It can't be helped, but that doesn't mean you make it easy on them."_

_The pinkette nodded, "Hold back, gotcha." Her tone was far from convincing._

_Temari looked at her student of two years for a moment longer, her scowl softened into a firm neutral line. "This isn't us training, it's the real deal." A sharp frown formed on her lips, "You got to give them something to be intimidated by and you __**have**__ to pass. You can't fail, ya understand brat?"_

"_Why?" Pink brows furrowed as her sensei's eyes darkened in frustration. "I want to pass, but if I don't I could just take it again…"_

_The blonde's sharp glare cut off her words, "Because everyone would just __**love**__ to see the Hokage's daughter fall flat on her face! That's why!" Temari's lips parted; her hesitation evident as she sighed and relented reluctantly, "Take it from the former Kazekage's daughter. They want to see you fail." _

_It suddenly clicked as to why cynical Temari would take on a naïve genin as her student…. In some miniscule, twisted way, they were a like._

_The genin took a collective breath to clear her thoughts, before meeting her sensei's hardened stare. "I understand, Temari-sensei."_

_The kunoichi straightened her stance and gave a tiny glare, "Don't let them be right about you, Uzumaki."_

"You better not chicken out, pinky."

Blue eyes flashed as she snapped out of her trance and to the side to meet black slits, staring at her unsurely. A small smirk quirked the corner of her mouth, "Don't count on it."

Kakato snorted, crossing his arms over his chest and set his gaze to lock on the closed double doors before them. "And don't do anything stupid-"

"Shouldn't I be saying that to you?"

A growl bubbled in his chest as he whipped his head to the side to glare at the still smirking kunoichi. That just seemed to amuse her more, judging by the way her smirk widened and shoulders quivered.

"I'm not the one useless one, Uzumaki." The smugness in his tone might as well have been a slap to the face.

All teasing was wiped clear off her face, blue eyes darkened and her smirk morphed into a venomous scowl.

He thought she was going to deck him then and there. But, she merely turned forward once again, determined to not let too much emotion show in front of their competitors. Unconsciously, her finger tips rose to brush the clear charm that still hung from the well-worn chain.

"You still have that?"

Kakato's brow arched and leaned forward to see that, in fact, it was the very same necklace.

She jerked her hand back as if it burned her and avoided meeting his curious gaze.

"I got used to wearing it," Her shoulders rolled casually, "And it comes in handy."

He caught the hidden meaning behind the innocent statement. She only wore it because it hid her chakra signature. The dog-nin grunted as he leaned away, hands burying in his pockets and fang nibbling into his lower lip.

Discreetly, Konohana glanced at her partner out of the corner of her eye. He now towered over her by a good five inches, brown spikes pulled into a pony-tail much like their sensei's with two triangles falling over his forehead protector. No longer were his features round with baby fat, but trimmed into a firm jaw line. A bright red vest rested over a long black tee shirt, along with his usual black shinobi pants, and he now donned black sandals.

Her eyes fell back downward at a realization.

It really had been two years since she had been home…..

She hadn't even got the chance to see her mother or father. Two years she had been away from them and just thinking about it caused her chest to tighten. The familiar stinging in her eyes made her push away any thought of homesickness that she felt.

She couldn't lose her composure now of all times, especially with everyone watching them.

"Next."

Both teens jumped at the abrupt voice and were met with the sight of two ANBU now holding the doors open. It took a second for their minds to process what was going on, before they realized that _they_ were next.

A small glance was directed at the other for some sort of confirmation and they stepped forward, ready to enter the exam. But, something cold snapped around their wrists, effectively halting both teens in their steps.

"Hey!" Kakato growled, holding up his now hand-cuffed wrist, "What's the big idea!?"

Konohana just groaned down at the linked wrists, a hand running over her features, "Not _again._"

The porcelain mask of the ANBU stared back at the burning black eyes of the Inuzuka unfazed, while a stern voice emerged from behind it. "It's part of the exam, kid. I didn't make the rules." Without any more explanation, both guards pushed the team inside and slammed the doors behind them.

A growl remained lodged in the dog-nin's throat. And the pinkette swore mentally to find out who designed this particular test and to wring their neck herself. She could already feel her hands begin to sweat at the sensation of something encircling her wrist.

Some demons didn't die so easy it seemed. Her lips twisted into a wry smirk at the thought, her skin was turning flushed.

Blue and black eyes widened into saucers at the sight of the altered arena. Tall metal fences were embedded into the tops of the walls and the tallest of all was in front of the miniscule crowd that gathered in the stands. It made Konohana's mouth go dry, her mind already conjuring ideas as to what brought on such a drastic change.

"Overwhelming, huh?" A feminine voice chuckled.

The dog-nin and pinkette's heads snapped in unison to the test proctor approaching them. Familiar honey-brown eyes glinted in amusement, blonde hair tied into low pig-tails, and a blue diamond marked the skin of her forehead.

"Tsunade?!" The kunoichi gaped, earning a small smirk from the former Hokage.

She shrugged with a smug smile, "Told ya brats I'd see you again. But, let's get this show on the road." Her eyebrow arched pointedly and lips went into a neutral line. Swiftly, all friendliness dissolved into business mode, "The rules are simple. You have to survive ten minutes, easy enough, right? Live and you pass."

Calmly, she made her way back to the center of the arena, where a scroll laid open. Crouching down, she pressed her open palm on the seal and sent a small surge of chakra into the paper.

POOF!

The blonde leapt with a chakra infused jump a split second later onto one of the tall barrier walls of the arena. Tsunade glanced down at the duo once more, "BEGIN!"

Kakato's eyes widened and Konohana's face went almost bleach white when the smoke cleared. The huge Chairomi even whimpered as she hid behind Kakato's legs.

There in the center of the barren arena was a giant beetle like bug. A man-eating bug from Suna's Demonic Sea.

"Oh, crap," Her chest suddenly felt tighter.

…

Sakura visibly flinched in her place next to her husband when the bug came into view. Teeth gnawed into her lower lip, eyes flashing between the pink haired kunoichi at the far end of the arena and back to the insect. Her fists were popping; restraining every motherly urge to just yank her daughter out of there…

Warm fingers overlapped her balled up hand, pulling her attention away from the scene in front of her. Her worried filled green eyes met warm pools of cerulean staring down at her. "I know." Naruto murmured under his breath. "She can do it, Sakura."

"I know she can," She grumbled under her breath, her fist tightened and eyes flashed dangerously, "But, I swear Naruto if she gets hurt I'm going to maim you _and_ Gaara for coming up with this!"

The Hokage smirked lightly, "I figured as much."

The pink haired medic-nin shoulders relaxed, eyes drawing back to the match, "If she's anything like you though…," A small smile quirked her lips, letting the comment hang in the air and welcomed the small kiss on her temple. "Now, what Hinata will do if Kakato gets hurt …."

"You just _had _to say that didn't you?"

…

One moment, everything was perfectly calm and quiet. A soothing breeze whisked through the surrounding trees and the melody of chirping birds filled the silent atmosphere. All the Kages and their guards watched down from the upper most level of the arena, waiting for someone or something to make a move.

In half the amount of time, everything went into complete chaos just by a small whine Chairomi emitted.

The snapping of the bug's pinchers shattered the serenity and plowed forward.

It took a second for the action to click in Konohana's mind and to realize that the man-eating creature was heading right towards them.

"CRAP! Move it!" Konohana exclaimed, yanking their connected hands. Kakato didn't budge, blinking with an eerily calm expression casted over his fierce features. Panicked blue eyes went back to the bug, "This isn't funny, mutt!"

Still no response.

The next thing his numb body registered was that they were both skidding along the rough ground of the well-used arena and loud barks were being emitted from something. Feminine curses echoed in his foggy mind and a pair of darkening blue eyes narrowed at him. "Snap out of it, mutt!" She roared. "I can't jump for you!"

He was still motionless. Black eyes empty. Again, he numbly felt a yank at his arm and the rough sandy earth grating against his flesh as she once again threw them out of the way of the rampaging opponent.

"KAKATO!" It was gritted through clenched teeth, "If you don't snap out of it I'm going to _freakin' feed _you to it!"

No response. Konohana jerked her head to look over her shoulder, a groan left her at the sight of the insect turning and charging in the direction of her shout.

With a grunt, she looped her arm around Kakato's waist, Chairomi slid between his legs so that he was astride her back, and both females managed to jump just as the bug crashed into where they had been. Pink brows furrowed when the creature swiveled it head side to side.

"It can't see us…."

….

Temari was livid. It was only word that both Kankurou and Shikamaru could come up with that fit just how angry she was at that moment. Extreme emotions just weren't the blonde's thing. The last time Shikamaru seen her this worked up was when she was giving birth to their daughter and wanted to castrate him.

The kunoichi clutched the metal railing of the upper level of the seating. She and Kankurou both were serving as Gaara's body guards for the occasion, and it was taking everything in her not to start yelling like a banshee at her student. The only thing stopping her was the presence of the Kages, other than Naruto and Gaara.

If they saw her rattled and off guard, she knew it would be used to someone's advantage. True, they were in a time of peace, but peace never lasted too long in the world of ninjas.

"I swear if she doesn't figure it out I'm going to drag her back to Suna by the hair on her head and train her into the ground." She gritted out through her clenched teeth, earning an amused look from her younger brother.

Shikamaru just rolled his eyes.

…

A small, foreign pulsation of chakra prickled her skin and made her spine snap straight. The pinkette then turned her gaze to their proctor standing on the wall of the arena, fingers poised in a jutsu.

It clicked in her adrenaline fueled mind. It would be too easy of an exam if all they had to do was dodge the insect for mere ten minutes. If they threw something else into the mix and disabled one member of the team, while they were handcuffed, it would slow down the rest of the team….

Her lips thinned into a dangerous scowl, "Genjutsu." Fingers brushed a kunai.

In a one swift movement, she drove the blade into her partner's leg. _Hard. _Almost instantly, a roar of pain rang throughout the arena and made the pinkette flinch at the sound of the now rampaging insect.

The sting shocked his system back to the present, eyes coming into focus and pain surging up his leg. "AHH!" He squawked, yanking his leg away from his partner and growled, "What the crap, Uzuma-"

He got cut off by his partner and Chairomi both dragging him out of the way of the man-eater. Blankly, he stared at the dirt clouds rolling from the impact and glanced up the scowling pinkette. He flinched back, "Uh…"

She looked like she wanted to murder someone.

Kakato's brows drew together in confusion. "What happened?"

"One. Word." Konohana growled out, holding a stiff finger in front of his face, making his eyes go cross. "Genjutsu."

Confusion melted into understanding, taking in her dirt smeared skin and Chairomi's annoyed huffs. He had just been dragged around the arena by a girl nearly half his size and his ninken. A faint heat rose to the surface of his cheeks, scratching the back of his neck. With the small amount of dignity he had left, Kakato got to his feet, avoiding looking down at her.

Tsunade chuckled from her perch, brown eyes filled with amusement. She shook her head, glancing down to her watch, and smirked up at the pair. Happily, she watched the insect disappear in a puff of smoke as she released the jutsu and announced, "TIME!"

Kakato remained silent, staring at the ground under his sandals. He vaguely realized their wrists were being undone, black slits traced the bloody wound they both had from her tugging him along.

"And here I thought Shikamaru was crazy when he put you two together." Tsunade chuckled, tucking the cuffs into her vest and looked over the two dirty genin. If she tried hard enough she could still see two twelve year olds sitting in her office, one with a bloody nose and the other with fractured ribs...

"The purpose behind this was to see if your partner would abandon you. I selected one out of every group to put under genjutsu. I never said _both_ of you had to survive." Her lips pulled into a smile, clapping the boy hard on the shoulder, smirking when he winced at the contact. "Congratulations, you two! Good luck in the next round."

Tsunade froze in her trek forward, pausing long enough to glance over her shoulder, "And Uzumaki…" Blue eyes flashed up to meet warm honey brown, "Take care of those barrettes."

Konohana's fingers unconsciously went to the two, smooth black barrettes that kept her bangs out of her face. "Huh?"

"Story for another time, kiddo." A small wink was her answer, before leaping back onto the wall.

…

Soon after passing the first portion, the two were bustled into a hall with the other victorious teams to await their next test. Konohana remained leaned against a wall; arms crossed and blue eyes downcast. His partner rested against the wall across from her, looking to the side with clear embarrassment that he had been manhandled by a girl.

Konohana no less!

Finally, he managed to look up at her. They hadn't spoken a word to the other, since he snapped out of his genjutsu state. His forehead scrunched of faintly in thought.

"_I'm not the one useless one, Uzumaki."_

A tiny scoff escaped his lips, causing Chairomi to stare up at her partner curiously. "That came back to bite me in the butt." He muttered under his breath, smirking as his ninken tilted her head in a confused manner.

The test in general wasn't dangerous if the entire team could be mobile. But, with one incapacitated under genjutsu the remaining team would have to carry them as dead weight. They were a two man team. It explained all the scuff marks on their arms. She couldn't carry him, so she had just thrown them both out of the way. It would have been worse if Chairomi wasn't there to help her pull him.

Black eyes brightened at an idea. It had been a while since he had a good fight…..

"Hey, Uzumaki!" He smirked at the way her head jerked up and eyebrows rose. "When did you get boobs?"

Blue eyes widened faintly, arms flying up to cross over her chest. Shock dissolved into anger, gritting through clenched teeth, "Same time your last brain cell committed suicide, mutt!"

Kakato could feel his smirk turn venomous. _This _was the Konohana he remembered, blue eyes steeled and features twisted in a challenging scowl. Eventually, her anger wavered long enough to stare incredulously at him. Was he messing with her?

It gave her a serious case of dejavu of when they were twelve and he would goad her just to get a reaction…. A scowl took over. If he wanted to act like they were twelve, she could play that game too.

"Mutt!"

"Pinky!"

The other teams were staring at them now, watching the two turn red in the face and bare their teeth at the other.

"Flea bag!"

"Weakling!"

"UGH! I'm stuck with an idiot!"

"Now you know how I feel!"

They both snorted and looked away, arms crossed and eyes narrowed.

That was the closest they would get to saying that they might have missed the each other. And they both knew it.

* * *

**Author's Note: Yeah, I know...it wasn't really dangerous. And I couldn't find a lot of information on the insects that were in the Demonic Sea, so I just got creative.**

**And there are links on my profile for pics for the story.**


	11. Chunin Exams 2: Age 15

**Author's Note: Hey guys, back again with another chapter. This was supposed to be the entire second stage of the exams in one, but this was becoming ridiculously long. So this is just the first half. This stage is a closer in structure and task to the original one, but I will be putting some twists in it.**

**I hope you guys enjoy it~!**

* * *

**Chunin Exams: 2**

**Age 15**

…**..**

POOF!

Every last pair of sharp eyes snapped to the end of the long corridor. Clouds of white smoke rolled down the hall in thick, almost choking vapors that thinned and cleared gradually to reveal a lean jonin. His silvery grey hair stuck up at awkward angles, a navy blue mask concealed the lower half of his features, while his forehead protector covered one eye.

The one eye that was visible scrunched closed as he scratched the back of his head. "Sorry I'm late. Some sweet little old lady needed help crossing the road and…"

"Bull crap," It came out deadpanned from all the leaf genin in unison. Every single one of them had their arms crossed over their chests and expressions of pure exasperation.

A sweat drop ran down Kakashi's forehead, "Word gets around fast…"

Kakato snorted and Chairomi huffed in muffled laughter at his side. Their proctor's voice had actually sounded surprised by the response he had garnered. A small glance directed to his partner showed that an amused smile quirked the corner of her lips, her head shaking in an almost silent laugh that most wouldn't have heard. His own small smile worked its way onto his features, turning his slit like gaze back to the front.

"Well then," The silver haired man cleared his throat pointedly, regaining everyone's attention. "Congratulations on making it to stage two." A single finger lifted to point to a locked door to his right, "When you step foot into that room, your test begins. I hope all of you signed the wavers."

Some cringed at the mention. The document had been crystal clear on just what exactly could possibly happen to them during any part of the test. Medical care would be provided to those who survived, but the village wouldn't be held responsible for any of their deaths or missing limbs.

Kakato seized up. It felt like wrecking ball smacked him in the gut as realization finally washed over his tall form. One random thought was all it had taken to shake him and to make a small curse slip past his lips when he felt his palms become slick with sweat.

"Good. The rules are very simple. All members of your team have to survive for two days on your own. Each member is responsible for his or hers responsibility dictated towards them. Senjutsu is not allowed," Kakashi ticked off, voice bland of any real emotion. "Further instructions will be given when the test has begun. When the door opens you may enter and begin your test." His single visible eye crinkled around the corner, giving a two fingered wave, "Good luck."

POOF!

Just as swiftly as he appeared, Kakashi vanished in an explosion of smoke, and signaled for said door two swing wide open.

Konohana Uzumaki remained leaning against the wall, blue eyes steeled. To the untrained eye she seemed calm. But, the subtle twitch of her fingers and the manner her gaze would flicker over to her partner revealed her own nerves. Her partner wasn't in any better shape. Kakato grimaced when he witnessed the other teams begin to file inside the room, Chairomi even whimpered softly at the unknown dangers.

The second stage was supposed to be the most dangerous, filled with risks and death. Some of those kids that stepped into the room, he knew, would never make it home to their families. Eight teams, including them, had made it to the second round out of a possible twenty. Two of those teams had been within their age range.

Kakato's gut clenched and twisted. His feet refused to budge from the spot.

"Where's that Inuzuka confidence at?" A strained laugh came from the pinkette. He locked an uneasy stare upon his partner, watching as she swiped her hands quickly over her skirt. "Come on. We don't have all day."

Neither of them moved, much less voiced what they both knew was true. They were scared. The once occupied hall, now only contained the two of them and neither could take their gazes off the open doorway for too long. A dry gulp escaped the dog-nin's tight throat and the kunoichi at his side drew a shaky breath.

"Mutt," His features were tight from tension; jaw locked and black slits flickered. Dark blue eyes glanced up at him, "We're in this together, right?"

It was the first time in a long time that a glimmer of the shy girl that hid behind her father's pant leg and stuttered her name in front of the class came out. Her eyes gave her away. They weren't steeled in confidence or determination, but instead melted into flickering emotions.

"_I won't let her die, sensei."_

Determination began to swell in his now firm gaze as the corner of his lips quirked up in a smirk. "You couldn't get rid of me three years ago. Do ya really think you can now?" Black slits sparked in new found confidence and the vulnerability that she had shown vanished just as quick as it appeared. "You want me to hold your hand too?"

The moment shattered under his sarcastic remark and Konohana snorted loudly, grabbing the collar of his red vest roughly in one hand and began dragging him in the direction of the room. "Next time, I'm letting the freakin' bug eat you."

Chairomi huffed a laugh and he smirked, "So…I'll take that as a no to holding your hand."

"Touch my hand and I'll rip yours off."

He snorted, glancing down to his seemingly amused ninken trotting at his side, and grumbled, "I want to know when in the Academy did I pledge to be manhandled by a pink midget on a regular basis?"

All retorts and sarcastic comebacks were frozen on their tongues no sooner they stepped into the room filled with genin. A few ninja stood around the borders of the room, all their faces covered by eerie gas masks. The door slammed shut behind them and they both jumped.

BAM!

The explosion echoed painfully off the walls and made Kakato wince at the intensity, while swirls of mellow yellow consumed the room and everyone in it within mere seconds.

He found it hard to keep his eyes open, or to even manage to keep himself upright as the gas filled his sensitive nostrils. His whole body felt too light and he was pretty sure his fingers weren't supposed to be tingling. The fingers around his collar fell away soon after. In a haze, he vaguely recognized his partner's feminine outline in the smoke and watched her with numbed senses collapse onto the floor. People fell one by one like flies, the only people still standing were those watching through their gas masks.

Inky black blinded him; the numbness curled up his limbs and infected his once tense muscles until they turned limp. A second later, Kakato felt the cold surface of the floor fly up to meet his overheated cheek.

_….._

**Round: 2**

A small groan escaped dry, cracked lips as consciousness began to take over. The dreaded numbness melted away from his stiffened limbs gradually. Kakato grunted at the rough texture of bark scraping against his red marked cheek. His groggy eyes flitted open, squinting at the warm sunlight that filtered through the trees leaves.

The first thing that clicked was that he was in a tree.

He was in a _tree_!

Onyx eyes widened into saucers, jumping upright to stare incredulously at the tree branch that he now straddled. The rough bark of the branch bit into his hands as he tightened his hold, reluctantly looked beneath him, and blanched at the sight of a terrifying fifty foot drop. After that, it was easy to direct his gaze upward to stare at the very interesting sky.

His forehead scrunched up. When did he get in a tree? The last thing he remembered was being dragged into the testing room by an annoying pinkette when…

It rushed back like a tidal wave. Memories began to flood him, flickering from yellow filling the room, Chairomi falling on her side, Konohana unconscious, and everything going black…

"Chairomi!" He barked as fear twisted his gut. Panic filled black slits flickered frantically from branch to branch. "CHAIROMI!" A nervous yet desperate edge tinged his voice. Kakato leapt to his feet still desperately looking for any sign of brown fur, "CHAIROMI!"

Still no response. The wind rustling the leaves served as his only reply.

Fangs dug into his cheek, "UZUMAKI!"

It echoed against the sturdy trunks of the trees and filtered back to his acute ears. Frustration gripped his chest like a vice; another snarl escaped him as he slid his foot to the side. The crinkle of paper filled his ear, making him pause in his jump and jerk his gaze downward. Right by his foot was a simple piece of paper.

A growl left his tight throat, snatching up the note fluidly.

_Welcome to the second stage of the Chunin Exams!_

_You have two days to complete your mission. All rules must be followed or else be eliminated. The task is simple. Your team has been separated. All members have been relocated somewhere else in the forest. Two members have been supplied with one item out of a possible three: Heaven scroll, Earth scroll, or a key._

_Whatever scroll is not in your possession you must obtain._

_Locate all members of your team and make it to one of the forty four gates that surround the Forest of Death. Your key only matches one gate. By the end of the second day all members of your team must be alive and you must have both scrolls. If you do not exit your gate by midnight on the second day, you are disqualified._

_P.S: Due to your team's special structure, your ninken has taken the place as the third member of your team and has also been relocated._

…

Konohana snarled ferociously, balling up the piece of paper in her clenched fist. Blades of rich green grass felt soft beneath her knees as a breeze whisked a few strands of pink into her face. Blue eyes narrowed at the neatly rolled up white scroll in front of her, the black kanji for heaven printed cleanly on its surface. She couldn't care less about the scroll at the current moment. Right now, her thoughts trailed to the end of the note.

Chairomi being away from Kakato meant a dog-nin on a rampage.

Her lips twisted into a scowl and blue eyes traveled upward to stare at the sky morph from ripe orange to bright cerulean. That gas had knocked them out for the entire night. Fingers tightened around the paper. With a loud growl she chucked it to the side and in a flash she swiped up the scroll. A grunt escaped her lips as a chakra infused pump took her to the nearest branch.

…

Thousands of scents cluttered his nose. Trees, leaves, dirt, he could smell everything. Everything, except what he wanted to smell the most. He hadn't caught a whiff of soothing cinnamon or bitter lavender at all.

Another growl slipped past his twisted lips. Trees flew by him in blurred hues of dark greens and fights nearby echoed in his sensitive ears. Sure, he could make out a few gruff or high pitched voices. But, none of the voices were filled with a sarcastic edge and none accompanied the snarling of a certain ninken.

His fists tightened at his sides as he shoved off yet another branch. With every branch he landed on and shoved off of, his mind raced to calculate just what kind of odds they were facing. Four Heaven scrolls, four Earth scrolls, and eight teams...

Only four teams were set up to succeed if they needed both scrolls to pass.

The odds of obtaining another squad's scroll looked better if he had Chairomi, or even Konohana by his side. The chances of locating _both_ females within a one day window was becoming smaller as the sky stained a darker shade of blue with each passing hour.

"Leave us alone!"

Kakato skidded to a halt and whipped his head in the direction of the choked sob. His gaze bore into the surrounding area, trying to pin point the exact location the sound originated from.

The smell of iron smacked him in the face.

A snarl ripped free, his body went rigid in his stiff stance. Tension rippled through him at the pungent scent. "None of my business," He gritted out. "I still have to find..."

It had gotten too quiet. He hadn't heard anymore voices after that.

A frustrated growl left his throat as he leapt to the forest floor. In the direction that the smell came from.

…

Konohana's shoulders jerked straight when her chakra brushed against a familiar signature. It was soothing, but flared in feistiness. Blue eyes widened at the quickening pulsation the target gave off. The heel of her sandals dug into the rough bark of the branch, before she veered to a sharp left. Her forehead creased in concentration.

Two foreign signatures were near the familiar one.

Her fingers were twitching towards the holsters wrapped around both her thighs; a venomous growl escaped her lips.

"_Hold back."_

An even more frustrated growl left her at the mental reminder, her hands instead reached towards her kunai pouch. Her heart pounded in her ears as she landed in a crouch right above the chakra signatures. Sapphire orbs narrowed at the sight.

Chairomi was backed against the trunk of the tree; a shiny key glistened around her neck. Her muzzle curled back to reveal razor sharp teeth, the hair on her back on end as she snarled at the two intruders.

"Come 'ere girl. Come here," One of the male's encouraged, reaching out to the ninken.

Sharp teeth sliced the flesh of his hand easily and unleashed a howl of pain. Crimson dripped from the wound as he clutched the wounded hand to his chest, "Dang it! Aren't dogs supposed to be friendly?!"

Dark violet colored locks made him identifiable. Konohana tilted her head, attempting to catch sight of the symbol on his forehead protector, but his shaggy fringe blocked it from view.

"Ninken, not dog, there's a difference moron. One will roll over and the other will castrate you," Another, more bored tone droned. "We need a Heaven scroll, not a key, genius. Which is what she has." This male had taken a seat farthest away from the ninken, his hair an average brown hue and fashioned into a pony-tail at the nape of his neck.

The violet haired one snarled, "I know that!" His uninjured hand began to pulsate with green chakra. The healing chakra began to mend the gash along his palm, "There was only one team with a dog, all knowing one. Did you even notice?"

His companion snorted and pushed a strand of brown from his face, "Kind of hard to miss, Natsuo. Two reasons," The genin held up two fingers and ticked off, "One, she's a _huge_ ninken. Two, her team had a guy with red marks on his _face_ and a girl with _pink_ hair. Still not seeing why we need her."

Natsuo glowered at his teammate. His lips curled into a scowl, "_Because_ her team is going to be looking for her and one of them is going to have a _scroll_, genius!"

"Oh," The other shinobi's features remained neutral and void of emotion.

Another, calmer chakra signature approached the pair and interrupted any possible retort Natsuo may have had.

"So, you want to use her as a bargaining chip?" A feminine voice spoke up.

Konohana jerked her gaze to the side. A black haired kunoichi fluttered onto the branch in a skillful crouch, although her brow thong sandals smacked loudly against the wood. It made her cringe as she righted herself and dusted a few stray leaves from her hair.

"Thank you, Hisa! Someone finally gets it!" The purple haired teen sighed, then turned to the other male smugly, "See, it's not stupid, Akeno!"

"One problem, oh brilliant one."

Natsuo's eyes rolled, "What now?"

"The _dog_'s making a break for it."

Natsuo's eyes widened. He whipped his head back to the ninken to see her turning to jump. A small growl left his twisted lips and eyes morphed to mere glinting slits. Skillful fingers pulled his weapons from his back pouch and a fling of his wrist sent silver blurs slicing through the air. A faint glint reflected off the thin wires attached to them.

Panic tightened Konohana's chest, the shuriken whirling closer to Chairomi every passing second. Her mind raced for a solution, but none of the options sounded good enough.

A curse left the pinkette's lips and she launched off the branch….

Chairomi yipped in surprise when one wire looped around her ankle and successfully yanked her back to her prison. She landed astride the thick branch, all the air left her in a whoosh and a faint cracking noise accompanied a sharp bolt of pain.

No more shuriken came though. Her gaze travelled upward to see a bright blue clad back and locks of rosy pink. A whimper escaped her muzzle.

Natsuo, Hisa, and Akeno blinked in mild surprise. A pink haired kunoichi around their age was crouched protectively in front of the ninken, lip curled in a menacing snarl. A shiny kunai remained in her iron grip.

She had managed to deflect most of the shuriken, but a faint scratch seeped ruby liquid down the girl's cheek. A metal wire had managed to constrict tightly around her arm also. Blood oozed from the wounds, slipping down her wrist to drip onto the branch. And, judging by the manner she flinched, it was the deep gash on her shoulder that gave her the most pain.

She had been careless.

Natsuo's lips quirked upward, "This works too."

….

Kakato saw nothing but red. The stench of iron coated everything from the air to the grass that shifted beneath his sandals. It overwhelmed his senses and brought out a hacking gag from his clenched throat. His hand flew up to cover his nose, while eyes narrowed into daggers. If the scent hadn't given away something was amiss, it would have been the dark, almost blackened spots that were splashed across the ground and stained the surrounding trees'.

Carefully, he hedged forward. Eyes and ears pricked to attention, seeking out any other presences that may be hiding to strike him down. His free hand pulled a kunai from his pouch as he stepped over some tainted shrubbery.

The kunai fell to the ground with a thud.

Onyx pinpricks dilated and his stomach heaved. Kakato scrambled backward, away from the horror scene, landing on all fours just as a powerful heave emptied his stomach.

The scene burned in his memory, flashing to life whenever he blinked. His fingers clutched the green blades of grass; clear trickles burned his eyes and slid down his red marked cheeks from the dry hacks.

Those kids…. They had been crushed to death.

The sharp pinch alerted him to the now slashed inside of his cheek and explained the bitterness of iron on his tongue. Another dry heave left his whole body trembling like a newborn kitten. With a rough gasp for air, Kakato wiped his mouth with the back of his arm, eyes squeezed shut.

He could still see the glinting metal of a forehead protector, crusted blood dried on its surface, and the symbol of the leaf shining through the gore.

It was the first time he had witnessed death. Black eyes burned darkly at a thought. If he had been a second faster, then maybe….

"Ugh!" His fist slammed against the ground, shoulders quaking.

Those kids would never see their familiar again. The giant earth tombs that encased them and seeped their innocent blood saw to that.

His stomach churned again and he groaned. He didn't have time to have a break down. He had to find Chairomi before…

A howl sounded. A distressed feminine howl…

Kakato's whole body seized up at the sound. His head jerked upward from its hung state and snapped in the direction he heard the noise, "Chairomi."

In a flash, he was gone.

…..

Everyone winced at the high pitched howl the ensnared ninken released. Chairomi gave off another smaller howl that faded into a whimper of pain, her back stiffened as her ribs ached.

Konohana tensed, blue eyes darkening with every whimper that came from the ninken behind her. Her whole body began to tremble.

"See, told you it'd work." Natsuo voiced smugly over his shoulder. Eyebrow rising as the girl became red in the face.

Akeno's eyes rolled and arms crossed over his chest in a silent huff, but he didn't contradict his cocky teammate. It had worked after all. It drew the ninken's teammate out in the open and judging by the white scroll that was fastened to her hip, the hair brained scheme actually went through.

The brunette had originally thought that the ninken's team could just abandon her. But, considering the trembling and reddening girl in front of them…

They had just managed to royally tick off a kunoichi.

Natsuo took a step toward the pinkette and blinked in surprise when a flash of silver flew by his head. A stinging sensation on his cheek made his eyebrows furrow, touching the spot. His fingers had freshly spilt blood coating them.

Green eyes landed on the still growling kunoichi, his lips quirked upward in a clearly amused smirk. "Nice shot, I didn't even notice you move."

Konohana growled lowly in her chest in response, widening her stance to cover more of the injured ninken with her body.

"She's from the leaf." Blue eyes snapped to the black hair female, her stormy grey eyes blinked at the new attention, but she appeared relatively unfazed by glare directed at her. "The only teams in Konoha that regularly use ninken are the Inuzuka."

Natsuo cocked his head, his smirk widening, "Is that right?"

"How the _crap_ do _you_ know that!?" She snarled, fingers flexing around the kunai.

"She _can _talk. Think of that." Akeno deadpanned and ignored the rabid growl that followed. He merely turned his black gaze to the girl behind him, "What are the markings for the Inuzuka again?"

Hisa paused for a moment, her brows scrunching together, "Red fang marks….on both cheeks."

Konohana felt her stomach sink and her skin pale. She saw where this was going _really_ fast.

"Which she _obviously_ doesn't have," Natsuo filled in, arms crossing over his chest with a superior air around him. "That means one of her teammates _is_ an Inuzuka."

"Even though she's doing a pretty good imitation," The brunette quipped.

The violet haired shinobi tilted his head, eyebrows scrunching together. If they knew what clan an enemy originated from, usually it gave them an idea as to what to expect. "Hisa, what clan is she from?"

The knowledge filled kunoichi took in the bubblegum pink hair and bright blue eyes. Her eyebrow arched, "None of the clans of the leaf have her traits. It wasn't in any of the data files sensei gave me."

"So, she's not from any particular clan."

"I'm standing _right here _you know!"

All three members of the team blinked as if noticing that she indeed was still there. The leader cocked his head to the side. His gaze never wavered very far from her bright pink hair. "That's not a common hair color…."

"Neither is _freakin' _purple, genius! What's your point?!" Said pinkette snapped.

"Natsuo," A deep sigh tinged Akeno's words, "She has the scroll we need and she's cornered. May I suggest we get the scroll we need and be on our merry way?"

This seemed to deflate the over cocky shinobi. But, he shrugged his shoulders and sighed, "Fine, we'll take the-"

"I'd like to see you try, _pretty boy_."

Once again, Natsuo blinked at the girl in surprise, before it turned into a deadpan, "Big words for someone trapped and injured. Just give us the scroll, and then you and the dog can go."

Chairomi's big brown eyes flashed up to look at her current protector. The offer seemed to make the kunoichi waver in her stance and despite the pain, Chairomi gave off a faint growl at the idea. It brought a smirk to Konohana's lips.

"I'm out voted." A dangerous edge morphed her smirk. "The scroll stays, but you guys can leave."

From behind him, Natsuo could hear Hisa exhale loudly through her nose. "Natsuo, she's not going to back down."

A tic mark pulsated on Natsuo's forehead. There shouldn't have been any conflict. Any sane ninja backed into a corner and injured would walk away. Well, he knew any ninja worth their forehead protector _wouldn't_ take the easy way out. But, still what did she have at stake that was worth her life _and _the dog's!?

"Fine."

That seemed to be the magic word.

"Wood Release: Cutting Technique!"

Blue eyes widened as both males ducked down simultaneously as sharpened wooden skewer shot over their heads. Konohana grunted through clenched, pain flaring through her shoulder and arm, swiveling to the side to just avoid getting hit. A quick glance upward made her swallow thickly; it was embedded right where her head had been.

Her eyes flashed forward and widened vaguely in the significant change in the team's demeanor. It was then she saw the symbol on their forehead protectors as a faint breeze shifted Natsuo's hair. Two stones.

"Iwa," She breathed faintly.

The girl's lips thinned at the comment and brows furrowed as another giant thorn began to grow out of her shoulder. Natsuo's hands were pulsating bright blue energy, his emerald eyes narrowed, and lips marred into a scowl. But, Akeno, who didn't seem like the type to run from confrontation, remained behind his two teammates.

Then, it clicked. Konohana smirked, and her smirk only widened when she felt a wild chakra signature just above her. Chairomi's faint yip was enough proof to confirm who she thought it was.

A fierce roar snapped her attention to Natsuo as he began to charge forward and another over grown thorn whizzed skillfully by him, locked dead set on her.

Millions of options cluttered her mind. Only one of those options got her out with minimum damage, without abandoning Chairomi, and got rid of the current threats for a moment longer.

She grinned sharply. This fell under the category: necessary to survive…

Natsuo blinked and that's all it took for him to lose track of what was happening.

Green eyes widened in surprise when a force slammed into him so hard that he went soaring backward through the air. His teammates slid on their heels against it, hissing curses with every inch they moved backward. Chakra surged to their feet to lock them in place right. Hisa and Akeno's hands barely managed to grab his, before he flew completely out of the tree.

The unseen force settled and…

THUNK!

They gawked at the wooden spear in front of them, firmly wedged into the branch. Their gazes followed upward to lock on the kunoichi.

A forearm length iron fan glinted in the available sunlight, splayed wide open to reveal bright orange swirls. Konohana lowered her weapon from its raised position and smirked. Maroon bloomed along the bright blue material of her shirt as blood slipped down her arm.

It was worth it.

Her blue eyes took on a dangerous glint, "What was that about me being backed into a corner?"

…..

Kakato's jaw dropped. He had expected Temari to pass on techniques to Konohana, but not _that_. Her fan was smaller and hadn't created anything near the cyclones Temari could…

But, she had knocked them all off their feet. Literally.

He remained hidden in the shadows above, crouched on a branch and waiting for the right moment to join in the fray. If Shikamaru taught him anything, it was that patience was required for a successful mission. He grunted at the thought.

Here he had been expecting to jump in and play hero. But, of course Uzumaki had to go and ruin that plan. The dog-nin couldn't restraint he smug smirk that pulled at his lips. Tessenjutsu wasn't exactly a common technique for leaf shinobi to use and it showed all over their faces.

Something didn't seem right though.

His forehead scrunched in thought and fang dug into his lower lip. If they had wanted to overwhelm her with numbers, the brunette would have joined in, but he remained back behind his teammates.

Then, it clicked, and Kakato's smirk widened. In a faint rustle, he vanished from the tree.

Who said Uzumaki was the only one who could figure stuff out?

….

"Hisa," Natsuo's voice had a dark undertone that caused the kunoichi to flinch. "You never said…"

"It wasn't in the data!" She defended with a snarl, "I have a photographic memory! I'm not psychic!" The girl's grey eyes flashed, "There was nothing about tessenjutsu in Konoha! That's a Suna technique!"

Konohana arched a brow at the squabble and muttered, "Is that what Kakato and I look like?" Chairomi's eyes rolled and a faint huffing laugh escaped her muzzle. It made the pinkette sweat drop, "Guess that's a yes."

For a moment, she merely monitored the wild chakra signature not too far off. She hoped and prayed that the mutt could figure it out on his own. If not, she'd be there for a while. The pain was intensifying in her arm and shoulder, and caused her aim to be thrown off. And red really wasn't a good look for the poor tree.

"Stop fighting each other, you idiots!" Akeno howled and effectively stopped his team's bickering. Both blinked at him in surprise. "Fight her!"

The Uzumaki heiress deflated, sighing, "Here we go."

Natsuo grumbled under his breath, swiftly pulling out more shuriken with wire attached at the ends. Chakra began to pulsate off the kunoichi in waves, making Konohana edgy.

She snapped her fan wide open as a growl escaped her tightened lips.

"Wood Release: Smothering Binding Technique!"

A tree literally encased the kunoichi's arm in seconds and shot straight out toward her. The pinkette grunted at the realization that she'd have to use a larger scale jutsu, and was just about to reach toward her second thigh holster when wild chakra flared too close to her….

"OOF!"

The air rushed out of her, a strong body rammed against her firm stance. A hand soon followed, wrapping around her waist and dragging her off in a blur of red. Chairomi yipped happily from in his arms up at the genin and gave his red marked cheek a thankful lick.

Konohana shook her head, trying to bring everything back to focus. It took a second to recognize that she was now on someone's back, someone with a bright red vest on. Blue eyes rolled, wrapping her arms around his neck and legs around his waist to secure her spot.

"Took you-OW!"

Kakato snickered, "Oops, sorry."

She grumbled under her breath, flicking a quick glance over her shoulder confirmed that the other team wasn't anywhere in sight any longer. The pinkette exhaled loudly in relief at the sight. "I didn't think you'd figure it out."

"Have some faith in me, would ya woman!?" He growled and adjusted his hold on the huge Chairomi with a strained grunt, "It took longer than I thought to cut Chairomi loose without being noticed. Then there was the whole-"

"The rest is history," Her shoulders relaxed and body slumped forward to rest fully against his back. The gash to her shoulder and the wire biting into her arm stung, but she'd take care of it once they stopped. "What'd you do to keep them from following us?"

She could feel his muscles tense at the question. Kakato cleared his throat, "Um…well…."

…

A blur of red was all they had seen, before the two females had vanished. All three members had blinked in clear surprise when Hisa's attack had collided against the tree's trunk.

"What the-"

"The scroll's gone!"

Natsuo and Hisa both whipped around to stare at him wide eyed. Akeno, for once, looked panicked. He frantically patted down his pockets and swiveled his head around like a mad man. The blue scroll was nowhere in sight.

Natsuo opened his mouth when they all heard a faint sizzling, growing louder and louder. Three sets of eyes jerked back to the spot where the red blur had been to see a kunai embedded into the trunk of the tree with several tags attached.

They were all sizzling…

All three pairs of eyes widened.

"MOVE!"

…

BOOM!

Konohana jerked at the sudden sound. Her eyes narrowed instantly at the innocent whistling Kakato was emitting, "Wonder who did _that_. Any ideas Inuzuka?"

"Nope."

"So, we're going to pretend that you didn't just use _all _of our explosive tags to pull that stunt?"

"Yep."

"Thought so."

* * *

**Author's Note: The next chapter will be more centered around Kakato fighting, since this one is more focused on Konohana. Trying to be fair. I am trying to update at least once a week, so it shouldn't be too long.**

**If you have any questions feel free to ask me (:**


	12. Chunin Exams 3: Age 15

**Author's Note: Here's the final part to the Chunin Exams round 2. I didn't plan on it being this long...but I guess it just kind of happened. Sorry about that. I really didn't want to post another chapter on this round. This one was actually really tricky for me to write and had me rewriting a lot of scenes. **

**So, I hope you guys enjoy the finished product. **

**~Enjoy**

* * *

**Chunin Exams: 3**

**Age: 15**

…**.**

Of _course_ it had to rain. Kakato grunted under his breath when the torrent ice had begun to crash down on them in waves. It had been five minutes since the storm had started, and they still didn't have shelter. Chairomi whimpered as the cold tightened her already wounded chest, and he'd swear he felt Konohana huddled against his back. A curse escaped his thinned lips, frantically searching the area for something…_anything_! He had to get his team out of the rain. The leaves provided little protection from the dagger piercing droplets and the howling wind certainly didn't help either.

"DANG IT!" He roared as his black slits zipped from side to side.

His teammates were injured, he could treat that, but if they got sick it'd be over. They were dependent on him right now. They needed him.

Another shudder shook the pinkette on his back, her arms were deathly pale and goose bumps covered her flesh. Kakato grunted at her cold nose pressed against the back of his neck. _That_ couldn't be healthy. Eventually, he just began to search for a tree with thicker leaves, but almost every last one of them was soaked through.

Another curse left him at the realization of what he'd have to do. His gut tightened and ice begun to run through his veins. He felt Konohana snap alert as he settled onto a thick branch that had a relatively dry patch against the tree's trunk. His hands lowered his wounded ninken to the spot and then reached up to unlock his partner's locked arms. Her hands felt like pure ice in his. They trembled as she unwound her stiffened limbs and allowed her feet to touch the branch.

Konohana rubbed her palm over her features and settled near Chairomi. Her icy fingers cupped the ninken's head carefully, pulling her head onto her lap for some sort of comfort. She smashed her blue lips together to stop the trembling, but Kakato's grunt confirmed he had noticed.

"I need you to watch Chairomi," His voice was gruff and uncomfortable. Kakato scratched the back of his neck, while clearing his throat, "I'll be faster finding shelter if I'm by myself. When I do I'll come back for you two."

She nodded with her blue gaze leveled and clear, "I will."

Kakato couldn't help the small smirk that quirked his lips. After she had thrown herself in front of a bunch of shuriken, he wouldn't doubt she'd give someone a run for their money even if she was freezing. "If I'm not back in an hour, I want you to take Chairomi to the tower until the end of the exam. If a team confronts you at the tower, hand over the scrolls."

"I'm not-"

"Uzumaki!" He snapped with a snarl. Konohana's features twisted into a blue tinged scowl, eyes lit up in anger. "Do what I said!"

The pinkette's expression softened a degree, but the sharp edge to her voice didn't waver. "I'm not just gonna run when you-"

"You thick headed woman!" Blue eyes blinked in surprise up at the roar. "Forget about me! I'm trusting you to keep Chairomi safe! If that means leaving me out to dry, then you better _freakin' _do it! Are we clear?!"

For the first time since he met her, Konohana Uzumaki had been rendered speechless. Her jaw hung open a millimeter at his words. He trusted her. Trusted her with his most cherished person…er…dog? With a sharp shake of her head, the pinkette's steeled gaze met his hardened black and nodded, "I'll protect her. I promise."

Kakato grunted at the clear shock that still lingered in her voice and handed her his blue scroll, "Don't make me regret it."

Then, in a flash of red, he was gone.

Konohana flickered her gaze downward. Chairomi nuzzled into the semi-warmth of her lap, while her wet nose touched the naked portion of her stomach as it sought out warmth. A shaken whimper escaped her when Kakato's scent vanished. A tender glint softened her steeled eyes as she wrapped her arms protectively around the ninken and shoved her senses outward. She stretched them to their limits and flexed her grip on the ninken.

No one would be touching her, unless they had a death wish.

…..

Water dribbled into his vision and made him blink rapidly to clear the blurriness. Sandals squished in the engorged wet grass as he dashed between giant trunks. If he got lucky, there'd be somewhere to go. He couldn't leave them two alone for too long. They were injured and were targets because of it.

Wind cut him like razors and made him growl in frustration. That tower would be swarming with enemy teams looking for shelter and would be a death sentence to all three of them if they put up a fight. Chairomi had fractured ribs at the least and possibly a fractured leg. Konohana's shoulder still seeped blood, then there was the wire still embedded in her arm. Kakato wasn't a medic, but even he knew _that_ wasn't healthy.

His gaze locked on a tree whose roots were overgrown and extended above the soil to create a wooden cave. A loud sigh of relief escaped his chapped lips and shoulders slumped thankfully. With on more glance round the area, he memorized landmarks to guide him back to the spot, and leapt off.

…..

Kakato had been gone a total of three minutes. Three small minutes and it was all it took for chaos to erupt.

A glinting katana shoved against the long metal rectangle in the pinkette's grasp. She was planted protectively in front of the large ninken behind her, blue lips curled back in a scowl. The heel of her sandals dug into the bark of the branch when he applied more leverage.

"Oooh, big girl are we?" The male smirked. His cerulean eyes pinned on the two scrolls that the ninken guarded. "Ain't your doggy gonna play?"

Blue eyes narrowed with a growl, flexing her fingers around her closed fan. He towered her small frame by a good four inches as he bore his weight down on her. Metal gritted against metal and he smirked. Her arms quivered in the struggle and it took every ounce of energy she could summon to make a constant flow of chakra to her feet.

No other signatures were around, meaning he was alone. This nagged her in the back of her mind, but shattered when he attempted to swerve around her. Instincts over ruled thought in this situation.

"Stay away from her!" In a flip of her wrist, her fan snapped open and a storm of piercing air slapped him in the gut. The aftershock of the attack sent a bolt up her shoulder and caused a low hiss to escape her thinned blue lips.

The gust was strong enough to make him slide on his heels a few feet. Until he halted all together, chakra pulsated from his feet and effectively stapled him place.

He had figured that out quicker than the last team.

A smug twinkle lit up his gaze, "Wind user, huh?" Konohana scowled as he stood upright and brushed nonexistent dirt from his shoulders. "Babe, wind ain't gonna help you here."

His black brow raised in a silent appraisal. He'd admit that when he saw two injured females with two scrolls he figured they'd be easy to pick off. What he hadn't expected was to see a whirl of pink hair as he attempted to bring his katana down on them, and for the cling of metal to have filled his ears as the girl fought back.

Bubble-gum pink hair was soaked, dried blood caked the shoulder of her only sleeve, and a wire embedded itself into her arm. And yet, blue eyes steeled in defiance, despite her shudder ridden form and blue lips.

His black sandal inched forward and her whole body tensed. Tan lips quirked up into a smirk, "Touchy, someone's on edge."

Konohana's eyebrows rose. He was joking with her, _right_?

"Too bad," The black haired male's head tilted.

The kunoichi's eyebrows scrunched together in clear confusion. But, confusion was soon replaced with a pang of panic when his eyes darkened to midnight blue, "Thousand Flying Water Needles of Death!"

In a blink of an eye, she was surrounded. Konohana jerked in surprise at the millions and millions of water needles that hovered in the air around her on all sides. His lips thinned into a neutral line, watching like a predator that had trapped his prey as she assessed her position. He took pride in the quickness he could launch an attack, and figured in ten minutes both targets would be dead and he'd have two scrolls.

He waited for panic to flicker across her pale features and waited to strike at the best moment. It was when her wrist flinched that three needles launched at her and went clean through her wounded shoulder.

"GAH!" The pain shook her widened stance. Her fingers clamped over the hole, red seeped between her fingers, and mixed with the rain. Blue eyes burned and her voice trembled, "Chairomi," Her words were strained and the ninken whimpered, "Stay there."

Chairomi growled as the hair on her back stood on end and her lip curled back to reveal pointed teeth. The intruder chuckled, arms crossed over his chest and smirk widened. "Told ya, wind won't help you."

He was right, much to her displeasure. The water had been laced with chakra and was tightly controlled by him. She couldn't redirect them. She'd let that attack slip by her and acquired a new wound because of it. Konohana licked her lips and took a deep breath, concentrating on calming the adrenaline pulsating through her veins. First step, she needed to find an opening. Blue orbs flitted side to side, but when they glanced upward an idea began to form.

From there, it fell into place.

"Now just hand over the-"

The male stared in surprise at the empty spot where she had been standing. He blinked, like an illusion needed to be cleared, but in the center of needles was still empty. His control slacked and the weapons sloshed to the ground as puddles of water. "What the-"

A blade of wind smacked into his side and sent him flying off the branch. A grunt escaped his thinned lips as he smacked onto branch below. Even his untrained ears heard the crack that emanated from his back. Pain filled blue eyes flitted open despite the strain, watching a wounded pink haired kunoichi flutter onto the branch.

She landed in a skilled crouch, fan snapped closed, and eyes narrowed in concentration. The male smirked. He had underestimated this kunoichi.

His smirk morphed into a rueful one, "Figured it out that quick, huh?" His back popped in protest as he struggled to get to his feet, supporting himself against the trunk of the tree. "Not many people see that opening above. Panic usually sets in before they do."

The pinkette didn't respond and he chuckled, forcing himself to stand on his own, "The name's Danjuro Tanaka of the Mist."

A growl that curled back her upper lip served as her response. Cerulean eyes twinkled in amusement, "Usually, when someone introduces themselves. It's polite to respond back, hun. Don't they teach you manners in the leaf?"

"Why should I?!" The question was filled with venom, her fingers flexing around her fan.

Danjuro heaved a sigh and shoved his hands into his pockets. She was smarter than he thought. "Ya earned my respect wench. Don't make me regret giving it."

"You'll still try to kill me."

"Naturally."

Mind games wouldn't work on this kunoichi. Most of the ones he encountered were panicked too easily and jumped too fast. The unnamed leaf kunoichi seemed more level headed than that, so honesty seemed the best route.

Her sharp gaze didn't budge and neither did her well learned stance, "Konohana."

"At least now I know what to put on your grave." His eyes darkened as he smirked at the surprise in her expression. A flash of silver soared from his fingertips…

POOF!

Danjuro blinked at the smoke that twisted through the rain and scowled at the disappearance of the clone. A quick scan of the area proved no one was around him. A curse escaped his lips when it finally clicked, and with one smooth movement he leapt up onto the branch she had been on. His knees bent naturally in a crouch and lips quirked upward. The spot was empty.

"Konohana, huh?" His smirk widened to reveal his teeth. "Seems I underestimated you." Cerulean landed on the droplets of blood splattered on the branch. Danjuro chuckled as he launched off.

They couldn't have gotten too far, after all.

…..

Night painted the cleared sky onyx. Bright white diamonds twinkled merrily down on those below as a warmer breeze whisked through the trees of the Forest of Death. Kakato sped through the trees, more than ready to be reunited with his weakened teammates and to finally have them within sight.

"GAH!"

The feminine voice echoed through the tree's canopy and made ice to settle in his gut. Kakato's eyes widened. It had originated from where he had left…

"CRAP!"

…..

The pinkette stumbled into a crouch a few feet off, harsh pants escaped her whitened lips, and legs shook beneath her. She had lost too much blood.

Chairomi whimpered at the panting pinkette braced against the new trunk. Sweat beaded her forehead and maroon bloomed across the back of her shirt to the front. Konohana felt like she'd been smacked with a boulder. Her fingers dug into the rough texture of the bark, the icy chill of the rain still hung in the air around them. It had taken two clones to help her transport Chairomi to a safer place and that alone had almost drained her.

The Uzumaki blood pulsating through her veins secured her stamina, but even that had to have limits. Pale fingertips brushed a stray strand of pink behind her ear, her chest heaved a shaky sigh.

The sudden flicker of familiar chakra had her cringing.

"He figured it out," She cursed. Her eyes squeezed tight as her shoulder slumped, "Crap."

The tower was too far away and she knew she wouldn't make it that far before they were ambushed once again. This was a no win situation.

Chairomi whined in her throat, nudging the silent kunoichi's thigh with her nose. Brown orbs widened at the heavy scent of iron laced in the bitter lavender smell. She watched as Konohana's eyes opened, a darkened tint swirled around the iris as she stood upright. Her trembling fingers unhooked the side clip on her white skirt and pulled it free from her hips. Soon the ninken found her soaked form wrapped in the fabric. It emanated a small amount of warmth that seeped into her aching bones.

Konohana's lips softened into a smile, "It's gonna be okay girl." Her hands went to her shirt and unzipped the side easily. "I got this. Just don't move too much."

The chakra signature pulsated closer and her spin jerked. The inner lining of her skirt was a darkened shade of grey so that it wouldn't stick out as much in the green forest. With a shaky grin, she leaned forward to press a small kiss to the Husky's wet nose.

In a smooth movement, she pushed herself upright. The fabric of her blood soaked shirt in her fisted hand. Her fingers ripped the single sleeve off her shirt easily and made a sloppy make-shift bandage for the hole in her shoulder. It wasn't wonderful, but would provide pressure. The normally clear thought in her mind had begun to blur and tangle in her exhaustion…

"Inuzuka…hurry up." She whispered beneath her shaken breath.

"Smarter than I thought."

Her spine stiffened at the male voice. The tell-tale sound of sandals thumping against the branch soon followed. Konohana turned her head to the side, scowling at the smirking shinobi crouched before her.

Danjuro's lips pulled into a smug smile. "That must hurt like crap."

Slowly, he righted himself and assessed the enemy's current physical state. Her skin had paled several more shades. Dark maroon stained the bright blue fabric around her shoulder. She was only clad in navy spandex shorts and a black tank that landed two inches beneath her chest. Another chuckle left his lips. She had ditched the bright colors for better stealth.

The Husky snarled ferociously at him from behind the kunoichi's legs. He ignored her in favor of her current protector.

"You must be getting desperate." He noted rather calmly, "Ya know most ninja's would be about to go into shock from all that blood loss." Cerulean locked against steeled ice. "I guess the myth about the Will of Fire is true."

Konohana scowled, "What are you _doing_?" Her voice held a note of accusation.

Danjuro's eyebrows scrunched together at the question.

"And where's your team? You and I are the only ones within miles. Shouldn't you be trying to launch a sneak attack?" With every word her teeth gritted and nails dug deeper into the tissue of her palms. "You want to kill me. Fine. But, if you so much as lay a finger on Chairomi I'll take you down with me."

Said ninken snarled at the girl's statement, but Konohana ignored it. In a flourish, her fan was snapped open and ruffled his hair with a gust of soft wind. It became apparent in her battle ready stance that she was through talking. Danjuro grunted, pulling his katana from its sheath on his back, and sliced the air.

A jutsu formed on the end of her tongue, but froze when chakra pricked her skin. It was wild and fluctuated.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

A wall of flames crashed down between the two. On instinct the two shinobi leapt away from the burning flames that lashed out at them. Konohana's eyes widened into saucers as the orange and red fire showered upon the branch, sizzling with heat until it died out in a flash. The branch bore the blackened scar from the attack, clearly set between the two enemies's.

Danjuro cursed beneath his breath and in a blink of her eyes, Konohana saw exactly why the mist-nin suddenly seemed more on edge. A bright red clad back faced her, the wearer's muscles rippled in fury and she didn't need to see his face to know that he was scowling.

Kakato flexed his now clawed hands as his fangs glinted in the available light of the night. "I oughta rip your _freakin'_ throat out, you coward!" His vision morphed into red the longer he glared at his opponent. "You attacked my team." It was gritted out, but clearly heard judging by the mist-nin's shifting stance.

Pink brows furrowed as she gazed over her teammate's broad shoulder. Danjuro wasn't looking so confident right now. His features were a degree paler than they had been when he first appeared and the cocky edge to his smirk had faded into a neutral line. She hadn't even taken a step forward, but simply lifted her foot when a snarl pierced the air.

"You're done fighting, Uzumaki." Her blue orbs lifted in surprise and met dilated black. His fangs seemed longer and sharper, nails pointed, and a wild aura of chakra buzzed. "You've done enough."

Her lips parted, ready to protest, when two fingers pressed against the cool charm that rested against her throat. A rueful smirk quirked his lips, "Konohana…," Blue orbs widened a fraction and his smirk grew. "Shut your trap and protect Chairomi, while I rip this idiot a new one."

He didn't give her much of a choice.

"Passing Fang!"

Danjuro blinked and found himself faced with a swirling vortex, barreling towards him. Cerulean widened into saucers as he launched to the side, landing sloppily in the neighboring tree. The eerie crunch of wood splintering filled his ears and made him cringe. Reluctantly, he glanced over his shoulder to see the branch snapped clean in half and the vortex swiveling towards his new location.

"Dang it!"

He barely managed to leap upward to avoid the rotating edges as they sliced seamlessly into the tree's rough bark. Kakato launched out of the jutsu before he went through another branch and snarled up at the smirking shinobi above him. "Guess your bark is worse than your bite."

Kakato's body trembled, "We'll see."

In a blur a red, he was gone and Danjuro jerked in surprise when a fist connected under his jaw, snapping his head backward. The sound of bone crunching occupied the air as Danjuro was slammed against the tree's trunk. A clawed hand that constricted around his air pipe held him a foot off the ground.

His knee flew up and rammed against Kakato's sternum with enough force to knock the air from his lungs. A swift round house kick sent him flying backward. The dog-nin snarled and dug his claws into the wood, until he slid to a halt. Maroon dribbled from the torn flesh when he retracted his hands from the deep scars he left on the surface. Onyx eyes narrowed at the shinobi as he flashed through hands signs.

Mist descended upon the tree like a blanket and effectively hid Danjuro from sight. Kakato cursed loudly, jerking his head around, but only found the thick fog surrounding him. The mist morphed into a deeper white, almost smothering, from the heaviness that tainted the air. A crunch to the left made him bristle and flex his fingers.

A crease formed between his brows. Fire wouldn't do any good in a moist environment, if anything it'd make the mist worse. He couldn't see him to use any Inuzuka techniques either…

Reluctantly, he slid his eyes closed and placed his palms flat on the branch. Nothing permeated in the thick air other than the bland smell of moisture. Wind filtered through the trees, birds chirped, and kunai clang off in the distance. His fingertips pressed firm against the branch, back tensed, and teeth gritted.

A vibration tingled his palms.

A wide smirk marred his lips. In a whirl, he swung his foot and felt bony ankles smack against his skin. He still couldn't see, but he felt the vibration of something landing on the branch and the faint grunt that escaped his opponent's lips.

Kakato froze in place, waiting for another sign to alert him. His ears perked at the faint grind of kunai against cloth as it slid out of a pouch. With a silent prayer, he dropped his shoulder and charged forward. A firm torso smacked against his shoulder, his arms constricted around it, and jerked them both off the curved edge of the branch.

Wind burnt his cheeks as they fell rapidly to the floor below. His arms flexed around the struggling target and eyes narrowed when the ever approaching smell of wet dirt became stronger. Kakato released his hold, swung his arm out, and dug his claws into the closest branch. He dangled easily from his one hand, and waited until he heard the tell-tale thump of something solid hitting the ground.

But, it never came.

Black eyes narrowed downward. The mist ebbed away into nothing to reveal an empty crater embedded in the forest floor. A faint growl escaped him. "Crap."

With one smooth pull of his arm, he hauled himself up and crouched on the branch. A hint of iron laced the lightened atmosphere, but nothing else. That drop should have killed the mist-nin from the height they had fallen, but fresh water puddled on the ground revealed the secret.

One more glance around, then he vanished.

….

Konohana's head hurt form how hard she concentrated on Kakato's chakra. She had actually broken out in a sweat when Danjuro's chakra practically enshrouded the dog-nin's. The flare of wild chakra nearby snapped her out of her trance and caused her eyes to flutter open.

Kakato landed before the two females in a flash. Immediately, Chairomi yipped at the sight of her partner, despite his thinned lips.

"Fire, huh?"

Kakato straightened and gave his teammate a fanged smirk. "You're not the only that got new tricks, Uzumaki."

Her brows furrowed. "He's not dead ya know." Kakato's smirk dropped and was replaced by a scowl. "I can still _feel_ him. He's backed off, but he knows we have both scrolls."

_That _didn't help.

His scowl sharpened as he gave off a feral snarl. "_Freaking _coward!" Fists tightened at his side, until his knuckles popped, "I'll give him something really to run from if he so much as-"

Chairomi snorted and nuzzled her face deeper into the warmed fabric of Konohana's skirt. It seemed to have diffused the once tense air around the dog-nin. He deflated with a faint growl and rubbed his palm over his scrunched up features. "Traitor."

The Husky huffed a laugh and Kakato grunted. The pinkette's pale features softened a fraction at the normality in the whole situation, until her partner's growl snapped her attention back to him.

"I left you alone for half an hour Uzumaki! Then I come back to find you with a _freakin'_ hole in your shoulder and half naked!"

Blue orbs rolled skyward in a silent prayer and then descended on the reddened Inuzuka that towered over her. His fangs were bared fiercely at her as a growl rattled his chest. Konohana sighed, "Twenty minutes."

"That's worse! I could smell your blood halfway across the forest, Uzumaki! That's not exactly a good thing!"

A growl of warning slid past her thinned lips, "Did you find somewhere for us to go or _not_? Or do you want to continue broadcasting our location to other teams!?"

Kakato's slit like eyes burned into the paled kunoichi's steeled blue. They glared at the other for a good ten seconds, before a thick grunt escaped the dog-nin. He glanced over his partner once more, a sharp frown tugged at his lips at the sight of her skin significantly paler and maroon dripping onto the branch. Black eyes softened momentarily as he crouched in front of them.

The ninken nuzzled his open palm happily, giving it a small lick of greeting that tugged at his tightened chest. She didn't have a scratch on her. The only notable difference was the triangular grey fabric wrapped around upper torso and neck. His brows furrowed and fingertips flipped a small portion over to reveal snow white.

It clicked and another deep sigh escaped the slowly relaxing dog-nin. Kakato glanced up at the worn kunoichi's dirtied face, "Thank you."

It brought a small, warm grin to Konohana's lips, "You're welcome."

…

One clone and several minutes later, Team Shikamaru rested underneath the giant roots of the gargantuan tree. Chairomi curled against Kakato's thigh in blissful slumber. He had decided to let her rest before treating her wounds, since the stress of the Exams seemed to be wearing her down. One thing became clear though. When he attempted to take Konohana's skirt back she had snapped her teeth and snarled in retaliation. The result was a highly confused Kakato and a smug ninken, who had won the argument and continued to snuggle into the fabric as she slept.

His current patient though seemed to be just as stubborn.

"Stop moving!"

Konohana growled, her back hunched, and nails dug into the moist earth under her. Kakato snarled in warning when she attempted to jerk her shoulder away. "I can't heal it if you don't stop moving!"

A pathetic whimper left her as his fingertips pressed against the inflamed skin. Black slits narrowed at the ragged edges of the wound, which were caused by her repeatedly reopening it during battle. The borders were caked in black dried blood and fresh red seeped out to stain his fingertips. The hole was, surprisingly, better than the gash. It was a clean wound that seemed to have stopped bleeding. And he hadn't even looked the wire embedded in her arm yet…

"You're a mess," He grunted, "How'd you even get this hole?"

"Same way I got the others." She gritted through clenched teeth, "I was sloppy."

He scowled at the statement, but didn't comment on it either way. Kakato pressed his open palm to the hole and grabbed her arm when she tried to jump away. Her teeth dug into her cheek, whimpering at the bolt of pain that exploded through her. Soon though, the burning sensation was replaced with one of coolness and soothing. Blue eyes widened when she recognized the sensation…

"You learned medical ninjutsu?"

The dog-nin grunted and brows furrowed in concentration, while the green chakra mended the wound. "A little. Mimi's training to be a veterinary medical-nin and taught me some basics. I can't fully heal wounds, but I can at least accelerate the clotting. My control's too loose to do much more for right now."

Konohana remained silent and focused her gaze on her dirtied knees. It took a few minutes to get the hole clotted up, the beginnings of new skin were starting to grow, but were still unfinished. He did the same for the gash and after that Kakato managed to pull out the wire from her arm.

Eventually, he had her patched up. Fresh white gauze wrapped her injured shoulder and arm to secure the still healing wounds. The pinkette restrained the urge to flex her arm, turning her attention to her teammate as he bound Chairomi's ribs with medical tape.

"You can't heal bones?"

Kakato shrugged, "If you want them to be crooked. When I said basics I meant extreme dummy half-done version."

….

They took shifts throughout the remainder of the night. Senses peeled and muscles coiled to the slightest sound that may arise out of the forest. Kakato knew he jumped every time a twig snapped and since they were in the forest it happened _a lot._ Whenever it was his turn to sleep, he couldn't manage to calm himself for any stretch of time.

And if the dark moons underneath her hardened blue eyes meant anything, it proved he wasn't the only one who wasn't willing to put his guard down. Her fingers twitched toward her fan at the slightest of breezes and her whole body tensed at the sound of wolves howling off in the distance.

Safe to say that it was a very long night….

Kakato's lips turned up in a small grin at the sight of blue bleeding into the once midnight black sky. The warm rays of sunshine peaked over the horizon and spilled through the trees, warming the chilled earth. A large yawn escaped his lips as he stood and stretched his stiff muscles. Several pops sounded and he winced, rubbing his sore back with a grimace and turning to glance back into the shelter. Konohana had finally managed to fall asleep after her final watch and had curled up next to Chairomi.

Kakato rolled his eyes, but shook his head nonetheless. "Hey, Uzumaki!"

The pinkette's body tensed at the loud tone. Blue eyes cracked with an annoyed sigh and glared up at her smirking partner that towered over her. "What?!"

"Let's get going. I'm not sticking around here until midnight."

Konohana groaned irritably under her breath and rubbed her palm over her sleep caked features. She knew he was right. And she couldn't exactly say that she wanted to spend another night out here either. So it was with a sigh that she hauled herself upright and raked her fingers through her hair, fixing it into a more secure ponytail.

She could feel his critical gaze on her shoulder and arm, gazing over the wounds to see if they had reopened. It wasn't until he was satisfied that he crouched down to shake the ninken's shoulder.

When Chairomi stopped taking snaps at his hands, he summoned two clones to carry the ninken and turned to the stretching kunoichi. "You know…they'll be ambushing the gates."

Her pink brow arched and hands rested familiarly on her hips, "Your point being…."

"I want you in the back." His tone was firm and held a tint of a growl when he saw defiance flash through her gaze. "You got the most wounds, Uzumaki. If someone jumps you, can you promise me you won't get hurt or overpowered?"

The pinkette's glare clashed with his onyx slits and a faint snarl arose from her tightened throat. Much to his relief, she broke eye contact and crossed her arms over her chest. "Okay."

Kakato felt his shoulders slump as her gave her a sharp nod. "One more thing," He ignored her groan and rolled his eyes, "Is there any way to track what gate is ours from the key? I can't get a scent off of it."

Blue orbs blinked in surprise and arms dropped from their crossed state. Her gaze flickered over to the key around Chairomi's neck as her brows furrowed, "Whoever used the key left a chakra residue." She met his stare with a confident one of her own, "I can track it if the lock has the same one."

In a flash, he snatched the key off of Chairomi's neck and tossed it to her. Her palm flashed upward and snatched it from the air easily. "Get tracking. You yell what direction from the back and I'll go that way."

Konohana's eyes steeled as she bobbed her head once and tied the key around her own neck. Kakato glanced over his team once more, before launching off into the air. The girls soon followed in their own order as the team made their way through the trees.

…

"When I say right, I _mean_ right! Not left, not up, not down, I mean _freakin'_ right!" Konohana threw her hands up in exasperation, glaring at the stubborn shinobi in front of her. "You told me to give you directions! If you want them, then follow them!"

Kakato grunted, black orbs narrowed, "_Woman_, stop running your mouth and tell me where to go!"

This had been going on for a good two hours. Konohana would give a direction to go and Kakato would go the wrong way. If she corrected him, he growled and if she didn't correct him...he still growled.

Chairomi seemed thoroughly amused though. She would huff in laughter whenever the team would halt just because the two teens wanted to yell until they turned blue. The stress visibly had worn down both. Kakato's eyes were dulled with exhaustion and Konohana was tensed with anxiety. The easiest way was to take out their worries on the other.

But, as Kakato weaved through the trees, he hoped and prayed that another team wouldn't figure out what he had.

They were vulnerable.

…..

The prickle of a chakra signature wiggled down her stiff spine. Konohana slouched in relief as it grew in intensity and she saw the faint glint of metal just up ahead. Their gate was within reach and this nightmare was almost over.

She landed on a branch and launched off by the balls of her feet, keeping in time with the rest of the line. The chakra strengthened and a faint smile crossed her lips. "Almost there."

Until, a fast approaching chakra made her head snap to the side in time to see Danjuro fling his arm out. It collided against her wounded arm and sent her barreling downward. Her hand just managed to snag a new branch and she had managed to haul herself back up when rough fingers roughly grabbed at her throat.

Blue clashed against blue as he brought her up to his level and snarled.

"UZUMAKI!"

A blur of red slammed into her attacker. The fingers fell away from her bruised throat so suddenly that she couldn't brace the impact of the branch crashing into her shoulder. It roared with searing white pain as she shoved herself up with shaky arms. Blurred blue eyes locked on two males fighting.

Her lips sharpened into a scowl, "I'm getting' sick of this damsel in distress crap."

…..

"Any sign of them?"

Shikamaru's gaze rolled to the side and landed on the renowned Head Medic at Konoha's hospital. A displeased grunt escaped his lips as he returned his stare forward, "Nope. They got forty-minutes."

Sakura's teeth nibbled into her bottom lip. Green orbs flickered over the other teams that had emerged from the Forest of Death hours ago and were receiving treatment by the staff on the scene. One team had already been discovered dead and two others were still inside. "Who's the other team?"

"Some kid from the Mist." A sharp edged feminine voiced announced.

Both turned and were greeted with the sight of Temari landing into an easy crouch. She straightened herself, dusting nonexistent dirt from her pants, "He's a one man team." Her green orbs landed on the pinkette, "He was allowed into the test with special circumstances. The first stage, his sensei was permitted to substitute as his partner. For this one he was given both the key and a scroll. His team was slaughtered a week ago and he refused a new one."

"He's desperate then." Shikamaru drawled out. His eyes narrowed as he stared into the blackened depths of the forest and grunted, "Sakura, get Naruto, Hinata, and Kiba here." He glanced backward at the pinkette's furrowed brows and frowned sharply, "And you better get a team on stand-by. This isn't going to end well."

…

Kakato ducked beneath a punch and was ready to deliver one of his own, when a smaller arm hooked his and dragged him off the branch all together.

Black eyes blinked in confusion and narrowed at the sight of a certain pinkette as they landed down below.

"We got twenty minutes. Make a plan and make one fast." Her blue eyes darkened as she gritted out the words. Then, in a flash, she was blocking Danjuro's katana as it slashed down upon her closed fan.

Kakato's brows furrowed and fangs dug into his bottom lip. The two ninjas were fighting, iron against metal, each blow clang in the air and resounded back to the irritated dog-nin's ears. His mind whirled for an escape plan.

He knew Konohana couldn't keep doing what she was. Her shoulder had begun to give way under pressure and had to be compensated with multiple strikes. She still hadn't recovered from all the blood she lost. It wasn't until she snapped her fan open and smacked Danjuro to the side with a blade of wind that something clicked.

She wanted a plan and he had one. It was extremely stupid, but stupid enough it just might work.

With a growl, he surged forward, taking advantage of the momentarily disabled Danjuro and grabbed the pinkette by the waist. He yanked her up into his arms bridal style and launched off, rushing by his clones that cradled his injured partner and yelled, "Run to the gate!"

They nodded and increased their pace. Konohana snarled and wiggled in his grip, growling, "What in the world are you-"

"You said to make a plan and I got one." Her eyebrows furrowed in clear confusion and lips thinned into a neutral line. Kakato snorted, "Trust me."

Never in his life did Kakato believe he'd be saying _that_ of all things to her. But, he had trusted her to guard Chairomi's life with her own and she had. So if he could trust her, he hoped at least that she could do the same.

Konohana's glare softened a fraction as she exhaled loudly. Her arm reluctantly wound around his shoulder to secure herself, "Don't make me regret it."

He flashed her a wide smirk that began to make her question whether or not that was a smart thing to do. But, all mind boggling and distracting thoughts shattered at the closing in chakra. It flared sporadically and made goose bumps spread up her arms. "He's closing in."

"How long?" He grunted through clenched teeth.

"Give or take ten seconds."

Kakato sped up in his run and kept his eyes locked on his clones. He watched them leap out of the last tree and slide to a halt in front of the fence. "Which gate?"

Konohana concentrated on the cold metal pressed against her skin. Its wavelength seemed to blend seamlessly forward and to the right. "The one on their right."

"Throw them the key."

They slid to the halt on the last branch just before they were in the clear. Her puzzled expression apparently wasn't what he wanted to see, so instead he ripped the key off her neck and chucked it at his clones.

Piercing brown eyes, critical green, wide white-lavender, dilated black, and stormy blue eyes beyond the crisscrossed wire made him aware of their audience. Konohana stiffened at the discovery and felt her mother's gaze boring into her. She directed her eyes downward to watch the two clones unlock the gate and carry Chairomi through to safety.

"What are they-"

"They're getting her out of danger. The rules said we all had to make it through the gate, but didn't say at the same time." He smirked at the surprised glint in her eyes and snorted, "Everything has a loophole, Uzumaki." His arms lowered her to the ground, trying not to jostle her too much as black clashed against blue, "How long?"

"Five seconds."

Kakato swallowed thickly, "Okay, I the idea is..."

….

"What the _crap_ are they doing?!" Kiba roared, pulling at his brown spikes, "The gate's right here!"

Hinata's pale fingers fiddled with the ends of her hair. Her heart thudded painfully in her chest as she watched her son. He was just a red dot amongst the rich green leaves, but was still prominent to her.

Her gaze redirected to the pair of clones who emerged out of the gate, carrying the ninken. Chairomi's chest had been bound and so had her foot. Wide white-lavender eyes darkened in worry at the sight. Pale orbs reluctantly traveled over to her friends, who didn't seem to be fairing much better. Naruto's eyes were dark and Sakura's lip was bleeding from her biting into it so often.

"Have faith in them." Her warm words floated into the dog-nin's ears and made his black slits snap down to her. "They know what they're doing, Kiba."

Hardened features softened a degree at her soft voice and felt his constricted chest relax a fraction. Naruto's stiff shoulders also seemed to have taken on a less rigid edge, but the worry was still clear in his stance.

Sakura ran her tongue over her blood coated lip and turned her attention to the two clones standing before her, waiting orders. "Lie her down on the blanket over there. I'll inspect her wounds and see if they require veterinary expertise or if I can heal them myself."

They nodded in unison and carried off the whining Chairomi. Kiba glanced at the giant white beast at his side, "Stay with her. Make sure she doesn't try to go after him." Akamaru released a small bark of understanding and brushed against his partner's leg, before he followed after the female.

Kiba's slits returned to the forest scenery and grunted, "I hope you're right, Hinata."

"She is right."

The fierce dog-nin turned his head to stare at the blonde kunoichi and Shikamaru. Both of them looked too calm. Temari's critical green gaze met his head on, never wavering as she stated firmly, "Stupid or not, they know what they're doing." A sharp smirk marred her neutral lips, "They're probably pulling an 'Uzumaki' on us."

Naruto blinked and turned his curious blue eyes on the blonde. "A what?" Sakura's sudden peel of humored laughter only furthered his confusion, and Kiba and Hinata's grins certainly didn't help.

…

Konohana stared a moment longer at the nervous Kakato. "Y-You want us to-"

"You said you wanted a plan. You never said it had to be good!" He defended with a snarl and crossed his arms. "It'll work. Trust me."

An exasperated groan escaped her thinned lips, her fingers pinching the bridge of her nose as she felt a head ache build by the second. "The more you say that, the more I think I shouldn't!" The dog-nin rubbed the back of his neck and avoided her pointed blue gaze. But, eventually she deflated and grumbled out a, "It better work or I'll kill you if this doesn't."

Suddenly, black slits dilated and Konohana's spine snapped straight. "Incoming!"

In a black blur, Danjuro came barreling towards them.

Kakato stepped forward to meet him head on, ducking the slashing blade with ease. He rolled with the motions, eyes narrowed in concentration, until an opening allowed him to deliver a sharp upper cut to Danjuro's jaw.

The mist-nin stumbled backward a few steps. He finally found his footing, but soon found a pinkette's foot slamming into his gut. "AGH!"

His katana slashed out and was blocked by her fan. A snarl escaped his tight throat at the metals sliding loudly against the other. A faint smirk quirked her pale lips that made fury surge through his veins. The male's katana snapped her hand to the side and made a slice at her throat. Konohana ducked with a curse. A few pink hairs drifted lifelessly in the air.

The dog-nin soon surged into action as he leapt over his partner to deliver a punch. Too bad Danjuro's foot slammed against his gut. The air rushed from his lungs painfully as he flew backward and smacked straight into Konohana.

They both soared through the air, and would have flown completely out of the tree if the dog-nin hadn't grabbed the girl's hand and hooked his arm around the branch. Konohana flexed her fingers around his arm, blue eyes narrowed in frustration as Kakato grunted. He tightened his grip on her and dug his claws further into the bark.

A heel ground his fingers. The dog-nin howled in pain, biting his tongue until blood seeped out.

Danjuro smirked down at his opponents as they dangled helplessly. "So much for Konoha's Will of Fire."

A smirk crossed Konohana's lips and black brows furrowed in confusion.

She swung her body upward in an arc as Kakato pulled, and felt the heel of her foot collide soundly against Danjuro's bruised jaw. He stumbled backward in surprise.

Cerulean orbs widened as her fingers snapped her fan open. Kakato soon landed in a crouch next to her, smirking smugly at the mist nin, "We'll show ya Will of Fire alright."

A feral snarl escaped him and vision went red as he charged toward the duo.

Kakato's fingers held out a very familiar pouch filled with very familiar bomb tags. Danjuro's steps faltered. His hand flew to his back to feel his pouch was panicked gaze flew up just in time for…

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"

Konohana sliced her chakra infused fan through the air.

The jet of red and orange flames collided against the stolen tags, then mixed with the explosion of wind and created a cyclone of destruction. The wind slammed into everything and anything as it fueled the wild licking flames of fire that surged through the leaves.

Konohana felt the backlash of the wind whipping her off her feet. Panic clenched her chest as it sent her soaring through the air. Two familiar arms constricted around her waist amongst the chaos and yanked her into a firm body.

They could feel the fire's heat as it spread from the chakra enhanced storm lick at their skin. Her blue orbs cracked open and caught sight of the rapidly growing flames.

With a small grunt she concentrated her last reserves of chakra and whipped her fan to create an opening. It seemed everything went into slow motion.

Her skin prickled at the sudden surge of chakra that Kakato emitted, his arms tightened around her as she wrapped hers around him, and let him guide them both into a spiral.

They cut through the air in their smaller vortex and crashed into the ground. Pain shot through her bloodied body. She felt the arms fall away from her as they slid in two different directions. Her hand flew out and so did his.

In seconds, everything finally stopped.

The adrenaline, the dangers, and the mission all finally stopped.

Konohana cracked her eyes open in relief, but they soon fluttered shut once again as she allowed her body to finally relax.

It was over.

…

All bystanders' heads snapped in the direction of the red aura lighting up the red sky. It tinted the midnight black and bled into the stars in a maroon haze. A strangled scream escaped Sakura's throat as she watched the Forest of Death explode with the untamed flames.

Action blurred around her. Ninjas charged forward to dampen the flames and to recover any bodies caught up by the storm of fire.

Then, a circular gap appeared in the curtain of heat and two bodies soared through. They spun in the air towards them and crashed into the ground, tearing up a trench behind them. The pair burrowed up clumps of grass as they slid through the wide open gate and halted.

Shikamaru glanced down at his watch and smirked, "Eleven fifty-nine." He crouched down and pulled two scrolls from the dog-nin's vest, weighing them in his palms, "You two idiots." It sounded more amused than angry.

Brown eyes landed on the Hokage as he tossed him the two scrolls. Naruto caught them easily and couldn't help the wry smirk that pulled at his lips, "They pass."

Kiba smirked, shaking his head. "I hate it when she's right."

Temari snorted, her own sharp smirk morphed her lips. She waltzed over to her student and crouched by the pinkette. Calloused fingers lifted the black smeared fan from the ground as she met her husband's softened smirk with hers.

Sakura jumped into action soon after. Orders and instructions shouted over the chaos that had erupted around them. She and Hinata both surged forward to begin to assess the damage done, but paused.

Shikamaru chuckled, "It took them this long to learn their lesson about being a team."

A smirk crossed the blonde's lips, "We're lucky they learned it at all, Nara."

The Sakura and Hinata exchanged warm smiles, before their attention returned to the two genin lying unconscious with their soot smeared fingers tightly entwined.

* * *

**Author's Notes: I'm a sucker for cute endings. What can I say? The next chapter should be at least one of their fights, maybe both. But, here's a question for you lovely readers: Should Konohana and/or Kakato pass the Chunin Exams? **

**See you guys soon~!**


	13. Chunin Exams 4: Age 15

**Author's Note: So, here's the next portion. The enter into the final stage of the exams. One more chapter the Exams portion of the story should be finished. That's what I"m aiming for. But, once again it was becoming too long and I had to break it up. Sorry.**

**But, I hope you enjoy this~!**

* * *

**Chunin Exams: 4**

**Age: 15**

…_.._

Everything seemed so cold. A tiny groan bubbled in her throat as she attempted to lift her arms. Muscles screamed in protest, while she maneuvered herself into an upright position. Her body just seemed so stiff. From her arms to her shoulder it was nothing but pain.

Then, a persistent grinding and a familiar chakra signature gained her attention.

Whoever it was wanted her to be aware of their presence.

Her tongue slipped out to lick her cracked lips as her blue orbs fluttered open. With a tiny grunt she turned her head. Everything was blurry from the sudden bright light, but eventually her vision cleared.

Seated before her was a blonde leaning comfortably in her seat. The nail file between her skilled fingers ground her ruby red nails.

"You sure know how to go out with a bang." Was her bland comment. Honey-brown eyes lifted, "Combining fire and wind. I want to know whose hair brained idea _that_ was."

Konohana cleared her dry throat and licked her lips once again. Blue eyes merely returned to the ceiling as she ignored the knowing smirk directed at her.

"Not gonna rat out the dog, huh?" An edge sharpened her smirk, "You passed, by the way. In case you're wondering. Good thing to or else I would have lost all that money I bet on ya."

A deep sigh escaped the pinkette, "What do you want Tsunade?"

Tsunade snorted, crossed her legs gracefully, and leaned towards the girl. Her sharp smirk softened around the edges, "Can't your sweet old godmother visit you?"

_That _got her attention.

"Godmother!"

The blonde barked with laughter, "Naruto seemed to have kept you out of the loop on a lot of things, runt." A well-manicured eyebrow rose and grin widened, "I doubt you barely even remember me before that incident at the Academy."

Konohana's pink brows furrowed at the woman. Her tired mind cranked through any lingering childhood memories and came up with that sole encounter at the Academy.

"I watched you a lot when you were a baby, ya know." Blue flew up to meet her honey-brown, watching as a reminiscent glint sparked the older woman's gaze, "You didn't cry, but sure was a picky eater. You wouldn't touch vegetables at all."

Warmth seemed to bloom across her cheeks and the pinkette suddenly found the ceiling a rather interesting place to look. A warm chuckle escaped the experienced kunoichi's as she reclined backward in her seat and crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm guessing that hasn't changed then."

A guilty edge quirked her sheepish grin. Tsunade couldn't help but chuckle.

"You said something about my barrettes after the exam…"

The former Hokage's smirk shifted into a coy smile, "You want a story, huh?"

The present pink on her cheeks deepened into a nice shade of red as she scratched the back of her neck and gave the woman a wide grin, "I am in the hospital so…"

"I'm starting to see a family resemblance after all." She sighed. "Alright, alright, since you got the crap beaten out of you I'll give the short version." The girl's scowl went ignored as she continued. "They were a birthday present from me when you were around the age of four."

Konohana arched a brow, "That's _it_? You couldn't have just told me-"

WHACK!

"OW!"

"Didn't anyone ever tell you not to interrupt your elders?!" The blonde tsked and Konohana growled, rubbing the new knot on her head. "Now where was I…?"

"Going senile already?"

Honey-brown darkened into deep chocolate at the snarky comment and allowed her fingers to flex around the arms of her chair. The sound of wood cracking under pressure filled the air, "Goddaughter or not, don't think I _won't_ send you through that wall!"

A sigh left the pinkette. Her head was beginning to hurt and she couldn't figure out if it was from all the bantering, or if it was from her so called _Godmother's_ whack.

Tsunade's glare narrowed when she heard something that sounded vaguely like "grandma" being muttered under the girl's breath. Her teeth gritted and she was just about to knock some more sense into the kunoichi. She had already jumped to her feet when realization washed over her.

For a moment, instead of a teen girl with pink hair she could distinctly see a loud, hyperactive blonde sending her an innocent grin. She could still see his cheeks widen as he smiled at her with his trademark mischievousness.

Her hand fell back to her side. In a blink, sunshine blonde locks morphed into rosy pink, but those piercing ocean eyes never changed.

A rueful smile quirked the woman's lips, "You're more like your dad then I thought."

Konohana arched an eyebrow. One moment, Tsunade looked ready to give her a new knot to match the first, then the next she's staring at her in a creepy manner.

"Thank you?"

The uncertain tone made another laugh fill the air. Tsunade shook her head and smirked down at the confused girl, "Any more old woman cracks though and you'll be in the ICU faster than you can sneeze. I get enough of those from Naruto. Are we clear?"

"Crystal."

"To cut to the chase those barrettes were my grandmother's, Mito Uzumaki." Tsunade savored the shock that washed over the girl's face and continued, "She gave one to your grandmother, Kushina Uzumaki, when it was her turn to become the new host for the Nine-Tails, and left the other two to me and her hair ties."

Konohana couldn't help but eye the two loose pig-tails held in place by worn brown ties. "W-Why did you give them to me?"

The blonde allowed a warm grin to pull at her lips, resting her cheek in her palm, "I thought they deserved to be worn by another Uzumaki kunoichi." Honey-brown orbs warmed, "I'm sure you'll bring as much honor to the name as your grandmother and father have. I have faith in _that_."

Shaky, blood caked fingers brushed against the smooth stones that formed the two barrettes. Her throat suddenly seemed too tight and eyes began to burn. Blue orbs squeezed shut.

"T-Thank you."

Tsunade snorted and shattered the sentimental moment. By the time she made it to the door and glanced over her shoulder, the pinkette was wiping her eyes with the back of her hand, "I'll be seeing you in the final round, Uzumaki. Don't make me regret betting on you."

Konohana chuckled, "I won't."

…

As soon as she was released from surgery nothing was going to stop a certain medic from seeing her only daughter. Green eyes burned when someone had the nerve to suggest that she would be too conflicted with emotions to properly attend to Konohana. Safe to say, their comments were rebutted with a nasty scowl and her knuckles popping.

Just because she was her mother didn't mean it dampened her skills as a medic any! Sure, she had felt like her heart had been ripped out at how severe some of the girl's wounds were. But, that hadn't interfered with healing them all _and_ giving out orders to the remainder of the staff.

With her head held high, she stepped into room two hundred and sixteen. Her clipboard was prepared and eyes sharp.

But, no sooner did her emerald orbs meet those of bright blue did she feel her doctor front melting.

"Hey Mom."

A tender smile spread across her lips, "Hey baby girl." Her eyes flitted over every detail, anything that could have and did change in the teen's absence.

Her little girl had grown up.

"How are you feeling?" Warm fingertips brushed a chunk of pink behind her ear.

"Could be better, but alright."

The older woman nodded and moved her focus to the bandages wrapped around her shoulder, "Does it hurt?"

Pink brows scrunched together, "I thought Inuzuka had-"

"He healed that?" Green orbs widened and all her movements halted. Her jaw dropped a fraction, "I was wondering who had done that, but I just thought it was…"

"Me?" Konohana chuckled, "Mom, hate to tell ya, but I'm pretty sure being a medic-nin isn't in my immediate future."

Sakura smirked, glancing back down to the bandages and carefully began to unwrap them. "Kakato, huh?" She murmured thoughtfully, scanning the now revealed reopened wound. "Apparently, you destroyed the boy's hard work with that little _stunt_ you two pulled."

Any stinging pain was soon cooled by the green encased palm pressed to her shoulder. A sigh of relief escaped Konohana's lips, "Speaking of the mutt, how is he?"

A coy edge morphed Sakura's smirk. Suddenly, Konohana wasn't feeling too confident in her question, "He had quite a few nasty burns, but should make a complete recovery in a few days."

The chakra flickered out around her pale palm. Sakura frowned at the sight of small amounts of scar tissue bulging through her daughter's skin. It was very faint, but was obvious when she ran her fingertips over the spot, "Crap. It's been reopened and healed too often. Looks like you're gonna have a battle scar."

Much to her surprise the hole hadn't left a mark, nor did the wounds on her arm. There could have only been one way they could have reopened enough times to build up scar tissue in two days.

Green orbs narrowed, "Did it ever occur to you to use your _other_ arm?"

A sweat drop ran down her forehead, scratching the back of her neck, "Oops?"

"Already getting in trouble?" Both pinkette's snapped their gazes to the doorway. A certain blonde Hokage leaned against the entryway with a smirk and eyes shining, "How's my favorite patient?"

Any irritation she felt at her daughter's carelessness soon melted from her features. Thinned lips softened into a warm smile. She watched in amusement as her husband jumped onto the edge of the bed and engulfed their daughter in a choking hug.

One bright blue eye cracked open. Carefully, Naruto turned to face his wife and held his other arm open, grinning, "C'mon Sakura!"

The kunoichi responded with a shake of her head, and slid onto the bed. Her arms wrapped protectively around her daughter and husband's waists, nuzzling her daughter's pink tresses and placing a kiss on Naruto's cheek.

Their family was together again.

Watery green orbs gazed at Konohana's bright grin and those penetrating steeled blue eyes sparkling with light. Sakura felt her smile wobble as she squeezed her hold on both of them.

…

Hinata tenderly ran her fingertips over her son's forehead. His eyes shut and lips parted in light snores. A small smile appeared on her paled lips, cupping his red-marked cheek. Kiba was passed out in a nearby chair, sprawled out and head tilted back in thunderous snores that put poor Akamaru to shame. Mimi remained curled up in a chair by his side, her head resting on the edge of the mattress.

They were all worn out.

It had taken the medics quite a bit of time the night before to heal all the burns that decorated the backs of his shoulders and arms. They had managed in the end. All that was left were a few darker patches.

The village was abuzz about the duo who set the Forest of Death alight in devastating flames and unleashed a cyclone. Several trees were burnt to a crisp and many had fallen and crushed the gate surrounding it.

She could still hear Shikamaru's sigh when he had been told of the damage done.

"_Do you really expect anything else from those two?"_

"How's he doing?"

White-lavender eyes flashed up. Sakura stood in the doorway, her brow scrunched up in thought. But, it was the other kunoichi present that surprised her.

Konohana's blue eyes remained fixed downward, her fingers twisting the hem of the long shirt her father had given her. Her hair shined from her shower and skin retained a pink flush.

"He's been sleeping well." The former Hyuga murmured.

The Head Medic nodded as she stepped forward and began to check his vitals systematically. No fever, his skin didn't seem to be tender any longer, and he was sleeping peacefully. "If he wakes up you can take him home today."

Hinata gave her a warm grin, "Thank you."

"Don't be thanking me." The pinkette smirked and scribbled information onto his chart, "You helped just as much. And I do believe I owe him a thank you for healing my daughter when they were in the forest."

Konohana's eyes darted to the side to avoid the older woman's amused gaze and cursed the rising pink on her cheeks. If she tried hard enough, Hinata could still see that shy little girl that had appeared on her door step.

"When he wakes up I'll be sure to find you," The navy haired kunoichi paused and directed a smile at the genin, "_Both_ of you."

Konohana grumbled under her breath, despite how her face got hotter.

…

A small groan escaped the dog-nin's lips at the bright light shining down on him. Black eyes stung as they opened and squinted around the room. It was white and sterile. The overwhelming odor of disinfectant and dried blood made a small gag constrict his throat. Several chairs surrounded his bed side, the pristine white sheets pooled around his waist.

"'Bout time ya woke up." His swollen eyes snapped up at the voice.

Shikamaru grumbled from his position leaning against the wall. "Those must have been some pretty strong sedatives they gave you."

Kakato's tongue felt thick and heavy, "H-How long have I-"

"A good day and a half."

Brows furrowed and scanned the room in confusion. It made his sensei release a small snort, "Troublesome." Shikamaru plopped himself down into the closest chair beside his student and gave the boy a stern stare, "Okay, Inuzuka. I want to know whose _freakin'_ idea it was to set the entire forest on fire."

Kakato scratched the back of his neck. His black slits rolled upward to study the fascinating ceiling tiles.

"Ugh," The jonin scrubbed his features with his palm and groaned, "Do ya have _any_ idea of what kind of damage you two caused?"

Kakato released a heavy sigh and allowed his shoulders to relax. Reluctantly, he replied, "I came up with it. Uzumaki was fighting and I had to make a plan."

"Now see, there are two things wrong with that." The Nara raised a finger, "One, Uzumaki was fighting when her wounds obviously deemed she shouldn't." Another finger, "And two, she actually went along with that hair brained scheme."

A growl filled the air, his upper lip curled backward to reveal his fangs, "It worked! It got us out alive!" Then, a thought occurred to him that smacked the fierce expression off his features and had his eyes going wide, "Where's Chairomi!?"

The panic in his voice was clear to the experienced ninja. So, with a sigh he ended his worries. "She's with Konohana." A single eyebrow rose, "You mind telling me what happened in there to make Chairomi so attached to Uzumaki all of a sudden?"

A groan was his only answer as the boy fell back on his pillows, "It's a long story."

Shikamaru's brows creased further and then the tell-tale sound of bare feet padding against tiled floors came to his attention. His brown gaze turned to the doorway and was greeted with the sight of his other _wonderful_ student leaning in the doorway, an oversized white tee going down to her thighs and Chairomi glued to her side.

The large Husky released a happy yip and launched herself across the room. She pounced on her partner's bed and attacked his face with affectionate licks.

"Ugh, Chairomi!" The dog-nin whined, but made no attempt to stop her. A small smile revealed his fangs as he ruffled her hair, "I missed you too girl."

"Nice to see you up and about, Uzumaki."

Kakato gazed over the large dog's head to see his partner still in the doorway. Her pink locks hung loosely around her pale features as she gave him a small smirk, "Chairomi wanted to see him and I have to go to a meeting with Temari-sensei. Dad wants to take over my training for the next month."

Shikamaru glanced between the two and couldn't have felt smugger. Konohana shifted in her stance awkwardly and Kakato seemed to have forgotten how to talk.

It seemed that his students didn't know how to treat the other now. After all, he knew personally that the test could change how you valued your teammates.

A small smirk crossed his lips as Konohana tucked a lock of pink behind her ear and cleared her throat, "I better go…"

The sight of her back facing him snapped Kakato out of his daze. All the adrenaline and fear rushed back into his system. His fang dug into his lower lip and his hands fisted in the white bed sheet. Flashes of her bleeding, pale, quivering, and crying out in pain filled his mind.

Every time she had left him in the exam, she returned with battle wounds. "Uzumaki!"

She froze in place. Konohana glanced over her shoulder, blue orbs sparked in confusion and brows furrowed. Warmth crawled up the Inuzuka's cheeks under her scrutiny. His black eyes flashed away from the penetrating blue and Chairomi huffed a laugh.

Shikamaru leaned backward and observed his normally boisterous student squirm. It was about time that boy learned to be put on the spot.

Kakato cleared his throat. He felt foolish for the pang of fear that coursed through him. "I-I'll see you later."

Why had that sounded more like a question? He mentally cursed, Chairomi snorted and covered her face with her paw, and Shikamaru's shoulders quivered in restrained laughter.

Confusion melted into understanding. A warm, almost tender smile curled her lips upward, "Yeah, I'll see ya later, Inuzuka."

…

_**One Month Later…..**_

"Aren't you supposed to be told who you're fighting?!"

Shikamaru groaned and rubbed his temples at the loud voice in his ear. He was seriously considering smacking Kiba for ever teaching the kid how to talk.

The crowd was becoming thicker as civilians piled into the cramped stands and ninjas took their spots as guards, or as spectators. But he couldn't help the suspicion that formed.

In the world of ninjas, every action had a reason.

"They call someone by random draw out onto the arena, and then announce the opponent." He rolled his shoulders smoothly and sighed, "Beats me why they did it, but they did."

Kakato grunted under his breath and crossed his arms. Chairomi whimpered by his side and nuzzled his legs from her spot rested at his feet. The Husky's wide brown eyes scanned the crowd and sniffed the air much to Kakato's amusement. A small chuckle escaped his lips at the sight of his ninken actually being worried about the girl.

It wasn't too common for ninken to be extremely attached to someone other than their partner, or the partner's family. Then again, Chairomi had never been a typical ninken.

One more whimper and her pawing at his pant leg made him tilt his head back with a groan. "Do you know where Uzumaki's at?!"

Shikamaru snorted, "She'll be here. Calm down doggy boy."

A tic mark pulsed on the dog-nin forehead. He bit into his bottom lip and returned his attention to the battle field. The metal fences were gone and a large tree took residence on the outer edge of the plane.

The dog-nin's palms became slick and heartbeat increased in tempo. This was the last stage. All he had to do was beat one person, just one, to earn his status as chunin.

The Nara felt a shudder run down his spine and turned his head to the side. Years of marriage had given him the talent of being able to pin point her. His lips thinned when he his wife leaning against the back wall, her green eyes hardened and a scowl marred her expression. Confusion darkened his brown orbs.

She should have been with Gaara.

As if she felt his gaze, Temari gave him a solemn shake of her head and pointedly directed her stare to the back of Kakato's head. Her fingers reached back to tighten her forehead protector. A simple signal. One of many they had constructed over the years.

Shikamaru stiffened. The message fresh in his mind and body tensed in response.

Something was going to happen.

"Temari-sensei?" Brown orbs flashed to see a certain pinkette join his wife. Her brows furrowed and blue gaze glanced in his direction in uncertainty.

Temari graced him with one more grimace, before turning her attention back to the girl. "Remember what I said Uzumaki." Her lips thinned, "What I said before the first stage."

Konohana's spine snapped straight. "I do."

"Then, do what I said." Temari forced her usual scary smirk, "Go get your seat brat. They're getting ready to start."

Without another word, the blond kunoichi turned on her heel and began her trek back to the upper level. Her eyes squeezed shut.

She could only hope that everything would turn out alright.

…

The pink haired medic arched a brow delicately at her husband's constant fidgeting. If he wasn't adjusting his clothes, he was drawing repeated patterns on the back of her hand, and if that didn't work his forehead would scrunch up. Subtle gestures that would mean nothing to an outsider.

She allowed her gaze to travel down to a spot of pink in the stands. And felt a smug smirk on her lips when she figured she knew what the cause was. Seemed his nerves mirrored hers from the first stage.

"She'll do fine, Naruto."

The blonde Hokage flashed his wife a forced smile, his hand clasped tenderly over her own. "I know."

Sakura's brows furrowed in confusion. He seemed so tense. His shoulders were stiff and he would flash his gaze down at the arena every few seconds. If it wasn't over Konohana then what was it?

Suspicion began to squirm in the kunoichi's gut as her green eyes darkened, "Naruto. What. Are. You. Hiding?" It was gritted through her clenched teeth.

Naruto cleared his throat, blue eyes refusing to meet her murderous green. "The council and I came to a decision about the exams…and well…"

…

Ino Akimichi blew a stray strand of blonde from her face and huffed. She was an ANBU captain and had been assigned by the Hokage to proctor the exams.

She could still feel the tic mark pulse on her forehead at Shikamaru's words when he had found out she was the proctor.

"_It's because you're a freakin' loud mouth."_

Naruto had said it was because her jutsu would come in handy. She doubted that.

An annoyed grumble escaped her as she adjusted her green flak jacket that had hardly been worn since she received it. Carefully, she pulled the list given to her from her pocket and felt her eyebrows shoot up onto her forehead.

"Well…crap…"

For once, she wished she could be happy that she knew the 'genius' Nara was wrong. Her blue orbs scanned the silent crowd.

She inhaled a lung full of air and shouted, "Kakato Inuzuka!"

…

Kakato jolted at the sound and swallowed thickly. Chairomi jumped to her feet as he rose to his shakily. His black slits landed on his sensei and flashed him a wide, fanged grin, "This won't take long."

Shikamaru snorted and Konohana rolled her eyes, but gave him a smirk.

He forced himself to turn his back to them. Forced himself to calm the rapid heartbeat that pulsed painfully against his chest and forced himself not to look back. With practiced ease he reached a portion of the wall and launched off, softening the landing by widening his stance as his sensei had taught him.

Chairomi soon followed and walked faithfully by his side, not a whimper to be heard. In a matter of seconds, he reached the blonde kunoichi and arched a brow. He had seen her before a few times on the training ground.

Ino caught his gaze and smirked. "Get into position kid. I'll give you the rules after your opponent gets down here." Then, without another word her sky blue orbs landed on the piece of paper in her grip.

The dog-nin took his position on the field, fists balled, and legs spread into the well learned fighting stance. Chairomi had done the same and let her head hang lower.

His eyes narrowed, they were ready.

"Konohana Uzumaki!"

Kakato almost fell backward, "What?!"

The sound of the crowd buzzing with shock and glorious surprise made him sick to his stomach. He watched as everything fell into slow motion. A blur of pink leapt off the farthest wall and strode with hesitation to the middle of the field. Chairomi released a loud whimper at the sight of the girl and Kakato swallowed thickly. Black eyes jerked to the proctor.

This was a joke.

This had to be a joke.

_Right?!_

He could literally feel his heart sink when Ino folded the list and placed back into the safety of her flak jacket. She turned towards them and cleared her throat, "Here's the rules. Senjutsu is not allowed. Due to the uneven amount of participants, the loser of the match will fight in the final match once again." Her baby blues flickered between the two of them. "Tell me when you're ready to begin."

"Call the match, Uzumaki." Panic was beginning to tighten his chest when she didn't move. She wasn't even looking at him. A growl escaped his thinned lips, "Call it!"

Chairomi whimpered and slunk backward behind the reddening male, her brown orbs focused on the ground the whole time. Konohana finally raised her eyes to take in the sight of her partner. His fangs were bared and slit like eyes were dilated in rage.

Just when they had actually begun to become a team, this happened.

_"You got to give them something to be intimidated by and you __have __to pass. You can't fail, ya understand brat?"_

Blue orbs steeled."No."

Kakato bit the inside of his cheek and felt his whole being stiffen. He could still see maroon blooming across her shoulder, skin ashy white, and dark moons beneath her eyes. A sharp shake of his head cleared the thought.

"I don't want to fight you….Kakato." She whispered.

His eyes widened and stared incredulously at the pinkette. She gave him a rather weak grin, amused by his surprise. It was only the second time she'd used his first name after all.

Ino glanced between the two genin, blue eyes softening at the sight of the girl's shaky grin and the boy's hesitating stance. She could still remember her and Sakura's battle clearly. The train of thought halted when the outraged cries of the crowd increased, wanting to see action.

She cleared her throat and stepped forward, "Are you two ready?"

Kakato glanced back at Konohana. Fiery black slits met steeled blue as they both slid into a familiar fighting stance. Chairomi whined, but followed him faithfully in the movements.

They both had something on the line.

It was with a slight frown Ino raised her hand and yelled, "BEGIN!"


End file.
